Cynthia Back

Contact Information

cbackstudio@aol.com

Please contact artist for purchases, commissions, etc.

Mixed Media

Printmaking

Archived Work

Artist's Statement

The violence of nature and its increasing extremes, arbitrariness and changeability is a constant metaphor for me of the fragility of life. Whether it is natural or man-made or the interaction of the two, I am drawn to address this in my work.

My subject matter is a response to the environmental degradation I see and read about, while also conveying my deep attachment to this natural environment, its ever-changing pattern, color, and shape. This tension between these oppositional forces is important in my work.

In my artmaking I stress recycling – older work, print proofs, and fragments of wood from renovations. Whether as substrates for collages or relief prints, the images and objects chosen have symbolic and emotional content: reusing and valuing the past, the forgotten, and the unsuccessful. Prints, combined with paint, become collages, cut for color, detail, and pattern.

Repeated motifs stress fragmentation and explore composition, while the collage medium emphasizes the anarchistic nature of much of the current landscape. My attraction to printmaking and collage comes from a fascination with the many ways I am able to play with images, determining the appropriate processes, juxtaposing shapes and colors, and changing the feel of my work by the aesthetic choices I make. I love the discipline of the reduction relief printmaking process and the surprises which come with each layering of color.

Selected Exhibitions

Solo
2015
Wind Challenge III, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA

2014
Mixed Media, Pennswood Art Gallery, Newtown, PA

2012
Collages y Grabados, La Galería de Pascal, Suchitoto, El Salvador

2011
reSource, Fireside Gallery, Main Line Unitarian Church, Devon, PA

2010
Solo Series, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA

2008
WaterWorks: An Exploration in Print & Collage, Siren's Song Gallery, Greenport, NY

2005
Natural Reservations: Observational Prints, Art Gallery, Villanova University, Villanova, PA

2004
Sprawl, Fireside Gallery, Main Line Unitarian Church, Devon, PA

2003
Sub-natural Layers: New Intaglio Prints, University City Arts League, Philadelphia, PA

Every Thing Under The Moon: Recent Intaglio Prints, Delaware Center for Contemporary Art satellite Member's Gallery at the Delaware Center for Horticulture, Wilmington, DE

2000
Watershed, The Atrium Gallery, Chubb Group, Warren, NJ

1997
Transformation: Paintings and Prints, Concordia College, Bronxville, NY

Group
2016
Personal Geographies: Cynthia Back and Rosemary Cooley, Washington Printmakers Gallery, Washington, DC

Mapping: Carte Blanche, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY

Beyond Cold Polished Stones, 20/20 House, Lansdowne, PA, curated by Anthony Campuzano

One Billion Rising, Polk State College, Winter Haven, FL

René Carcan International Prize for Printmaking, Bibliotheca Wittockiana, Brussels, Belgium

The 7th KIWA Exhibition 2016, Kyoto International Print Assoc., Kyoto Municipal Museum, Kyoto, Japan

2015
The Future: The Los Angeles Printmaking Society International Exchange Exhibition, SG Gallery, Scuola

Internazionale di Grafica, Venice, Italy

Industrial Philadelphia, Past and Present, The Atheneum, Philadelphia, PA

Interstate, Sarah Spurgeon Gallery, Central Washington University

River and Biota, Freyberger Gallery, Penn State Berks, Reading, PA

Dirt: Scientists, Artists and Writers Reflect on Soil and Our Environment, Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA

2013
EcoEditions, 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, OR

Un/Natural Occurrences, Central Booking, New York, NY

Washington Printmakers, Museum of Printing History, Houston, TX

Open Doors, Forum Eugénio de Almeida, Évora, Portugal

Violence, Women’s Caucus for Art, SPP Galleries, Conshohocken, PA

Arts and Re-Creation, Penn Charter, Philadelphia, PA

2012
Multiple Encounters 2, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, India

The Print Booked, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Ken Kirschman Artspace, New Orleans, LA

Re/Using Our Resources, Sandy Springs Museum, Sandy Springs, MD

2010
Inside and Outside the Clamshell Box, The Gallery at Delaware County Community College, Media, PA

Abington Art Center at The William Penn Foundation, Philadelphia, PA

Art in the Open, City Hall and Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Mark: Remarque, The Free Library of Philadelphia and The Crane Building, Philadelphia, PA

Impressions: Exploring Printmaking in the 21st Century, Penn Charter, Fort Washington, PA

Human Book, Loring-Art Bookshop, Centro Civico Pati Llimona, Barcelona, Spain

2009
Natural Histories, Central Booking, Brooklyn, NY

Intaglio a Go Go, The Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

2008
Drawn to Washington, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Silver Spring, MD

Post-Petroleum: Envisioning the Future of Suburban Space in America, Sheppard Gallery, University of Nevada, Reno, NV

Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2008, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA

ArtBound: Book Design Past and Present, The Athenæum, Philadelphia, PA

Musings on Nature, The Northwest Artists Coalition, at Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia, PA

Sixty by Sixty, The Duke Gallery, Wallingford, PA

Environmental Distress, The Women's Caucus for Art at Redding Gallery, Wilmington, DE

2007
Pink at Perkins: the Contradictory Character of a Complex Color, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ

Singular Objects, The Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY

A Century of Creativity: The MacDowell Colony 1907-2007, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

2006
The Natural World Unveiled, Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, Wynnewood, PA

The Library Show, The Artist’s Book Library, Proteus Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY

Fairview: The Strip, Time & Space Gallery, Hudson, NY

The Summer Exhibition, The Courthouse Gallery, The Ballinglen Centre, Ballycastle, Co. Mayo, Ireland

Multiple Encounters, Rajasthan Lalit Kala Akademy & Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, India

Artists in Rural Ireland: American Artists at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA

Of the Deep and the Shallows, Siren’s Song Gallery, Greenport, NY

Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Anchorage, AK

2005
New York/Paris DIALOGUE Paris/New York, Atelier Lacouriere-Frelaut, Paris, France; The Center for Book Arts, New York, NY; Abrons Art Center, New York, NY; Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY

New Prints 2005/Spring, International Print Center New York, New York, NY

Printmaking: From Tamarind to 1026, Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

North American Print Biennial, 808 Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA

2004
Multiple Encounters, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, India

In Print, Triangle Gallery, Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH

2003
Eire/Land, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA

2002
Witness and Response: September 11 Acquisitions at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC

Aisling Geal (Clear/Brilliant Vision), The Riverbank Arts Center, Newbridge, Co., Kildare, Ireland

2001
29 Gravures New Yorkais a Paris, Galerie Delta, Paris, France

2000
Graphic New York, Level 5 Gallery, Dundee, Scotland

1999
A-Way to Ireland, McGowan Fine Art Inc., Concord, NH

1998
Druckgrafik Aus New York, Galerie Station 3, Vienna, Austria

Affiliations

The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA
Washington Printmakers Gallery, Washington DC

Awards and Honors

2016
Fellowship, Nordic Artists Centre Dale, Norway

2014
Workspace Residency, Women’s Studio Workshop

2013
Residency, Blue Mountain Center, NY

Stella Drabkin Memorial First Award, American Color Print Society

2009
Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Grant

Residency, Acadia National Park

2005
Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Grant

2003
The Puffin Foundation Grant

2002
Commissioned Print, University Print Club, Cleveland, OH

2000
Residency, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, Taos, NM

Residency, Foundacion Valparaiso, Mojacar, Spain

1999
Residency, The Cill Rialaig Project, Co. Kerry, Ireland

1997
Fellowship, The Ballinglen Arts Foundation Ltd., Co. Mayo, Ireland

1996
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc. Grant

Selected Collections

Bristol Myers Squibb Co., Princeton, NJ
British Airways, Boston, MA
British Airways, Charlotte, NC
Federal Reserve Bank, Philadelphia, PA
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC
First Union Bank, Summit, NJ
The Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
The Library of Congress, Washington, DC
McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., New York, NY
The Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
The Newark Public Library, Newark, NJ
The New York Public Library
Pennsylvania Savings Bank, Philadelphia, PA

Education

1978 - 1979
St. Martin's School of Art, London, England

1976 - 1977
Wimbledon School of Art, London, England

1975 - 1978
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
BFA

Recent Artist Member Mentions on InLiquid