My intaglio prints have long been concerned with natural forms. Starting with observation, the final image is culled from memory, shaped by my experience. In recent prints I reference our changing landscape: the spread of suburban environments, mining and other industries, the subsequent destruction of habitats, farms and forests and the homogenization of much of suburban growth, strip malls and roads. Using simple motifs to suggest natural forms and suburban landscapes, I often begin with a rendering on a metal plate of a specific detail or place and then change it with deeply bitten shapes. Repeated motifs stress fragmentation and explore composition. My goal is to create fresh, exciting images that are powerful in their simplicity, beautiful and meaningful.

Color plays an important role in my prints. I am trained as a painter and began etching about twelve years ago; painting has influenced the way I overlay color. I use several plates with areas of overlapping color, as well as viscosity printing, applying color inked rollers on top of an inked plate to achieve a range of hues and values.

I often work in series, finding it an excellent way to explore many possibilities concerning one theme. My attraction to printmaking comes from a fascination with the many ways I am able to play with images: determining the appropriate processes, juxtaposing plates, and changing the feel of a work by the aesthetic choices I make.

Biography

Cynthia Back was born in St. Louis, MO in 1956. She received her B.F.A. from Minneapolis College of Art and Design, MN, and studied at Wimbledon School of Art and St. Martin's School of Art in London, England. Back lived in Brooklyn, New York for 11 years, but moved to Philadelphia in 2000.

Both a painter and a printmaker, Back has exhibited throughout the United States and abroad. Her work has been included in shows at the McMullen Museum, Chestnut Hill, MA; McGowan Fine Art, Concord, NH; The Manhattan Graphics Center, New York, NY; The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA; the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts, New Delhi, India; the Russell-Cotes Museum, Bournemouth, England; Galerie Delta, Paris, France; Galerie Station 3, Vienna, Austria; and the Norrkoping Konst Forum 2, Norrkoping, Sweden.

Back is also the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including grants from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc. She received fellowships from The Ballinglen Arts Foundation Ltd., Co. Mayo, Ireland; Fundacion Valparaiso, Spain; the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation; and The MacDowell Colony, NH.

She has accepted residencies at The Cill Rialaig Project, Co. Kerry, Ireland and the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony. Her work is included in many private and corporate collections as well including The Library of Congress, Washington, DC; The New York Public Library, New York, NY; the New York Historical Society, New York, NY; the Newark Public Library, Newark, NJ; and the Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA.