Contact Information
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Mixed Media
Printmaking
Archived Work
Artist's Statement
My artwork celebrates landscape, using the media of prints, painting, and collage. I am immersed in nature: from a window, walking in it, standing and listening to its sounds, watching shadows and colors dance across water and foliage. My sense of the natural world is life-affirming, healing, immersive, and contemplative. Design and abstract qualities enthuse. Inspiration is found in the excitement of seeing a familiar place take on a new aura, the changes of season and weather, and the scale of subject, from the immediate found at one’s feet to sweeping panoramas.
Water, forests, and the ways in which they are being changed figure prominently in my artwork. My subject matter is a response to the environmental degradation I see and read about. At the same time I’m striving to convey my deep attachment to this natural environment; it’s 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, prints and paintings on paper, whether as substrates for collages or cut and torn, the images and objects chosen have symbolic and emotional content, reusing and valuing the past, the forgotten, the unsuccessful. Prints, combined with paint, become collages, cut for color, detail, and pattern.
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
2019
R E L I E F, Washington Printmakers Gallery, Washington, D.C.
2017
Naturally: Woodcuts by Cynthia Back, Washington Printmakers Gallery, Washington, D.C.
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
2019
Transit Berlin, Roskilde Art Association, Roskilde, Denmark
Haugesund International Festival of Artistic Relief Printing , Haugesund Museum of Fine Art, Norway
Sweet Earth/Bitter Earth, Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, CA
Built/Broken, Schiltkamp Gallery, Traina Center for the Arts, Clark University, Worcester, MA
Big Ink, Martino Gallery, Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, Annapolis, MD
2018
Mini Prints, Galleri Heike Arendt DK, Berlin, Germany
Climart, Cannery Galleries, Academy of Art, San Francisco, CA
Selections from Art in the Open, CFEVA, Philadelphia, PA
Process and Invention/Six Women Printmakers, Printed Image Gallery, Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Philadelphia, PA
Inside Out, Inliquid Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2017
The Garden of Earthly Delights, Central Booking, NYC
Plant Cure, Central Booking, NYC
Wetlands, Holt-Russell Gallery, Baker University, Baldwin City, KS
Reclaiming Earth, Jewett Gallery, San Francisco Library, San Francisco, CA
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
2019
Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation. Grant
Residency, The Studios of Key West
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
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Beyond Mark Making – Star Wheel Printers
This exhibition presents a variety of printmaking processes that celebrates the individual’s use of mark marking to create a visual … See Full Post
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Trees of Life
Trees of Life features installation, paintings, photographs, sculpture and works on paper by Cynthia Back, Susan Benarcik, Frank DePietro, Linda … See Full Post
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Into the Light: Benefit Exhibition for Friends of Rail Park
Into the Light Opening Reception Fri, Sept 7 — 5-9 pm 990 Spring Garden Street The show will feature 300 works … See Full Post
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32 of 200 Artists Rep InLiquid at Friends of Rail Park Benefit Show
If you didn’t hear, Philly now has its own elevated urban park worth bragging about: the Rail Park. Reminiscent of … See Full Post
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Artist N Conversation of Process and Invention: Six Women Printmakers
A discussion panel regarding the group show Process and Invention: Six Women Printmakers