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1. Coal Hill, 2007, mixed media collage, 22" x 30"
2. Cul-de-Sacs, 2006, mixed media collage, 26" x 41"
3. Estuary, 2006, monotype with collage, 22" x 29-½"
4. Jersey Shore, 2006, mixed media collage, 22" x 30"
5. New Jersey Landscape #2, 2006, mixed media collage,
     16" x 20"
6. New Jersey Landscape #5, 2007, mixed media collage,
      16" x 20"
7 New Jersey Landscape #6, 2007, mixed media collage,
      16" x 20"
8. Between Two Rivers, 2005, mixed media collage,
      22" x 30"
9. Buckingham, 2005, mixed media collage, 26" x 41"
10. Exurbia, 2005, mixed media collage, 26" x 41"
11. Scene on the Road #5, 2005, mixed media collage,
        22" x 30"
12. Shenandoah, 2005, mixed media collage, 26" x 41"
13. Sprawl #2, 2004, mixed media collage, 20" x 25"

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1. City Lights #1, 2006, aquatint, spit bite, 11" x 14"
2. City Lights #2, 2006, aquatint, spit bite, 11" x 14"
3. Everglades #4, 2007, reduction linocut, 12" x 12"
4. Everglades #5, 2007, reduction linocut, 12" x 12"
5. Flyways, 2006, etching, aquatint, soft ground, 8" x 20"
6. Reflections on Water, 2007, aquatint, deep bite,
     12" x 27"
7. Ten Rivers, 2006, aquatint, toner, deep bite, 12" x 30"
8. Tide, 2006, collograph, 23" x 13"
9. Full Circle, 2004, spit bite, aquatint, 12” x 28”
10. Parking Lot, 2004, etching, spit bite, 24” x 23”
11. Homeland Security #1, 2004, etching, aquatint, spit
        bite, 9" x 27"
12. Homeland Security #2, 2004, etching, aquatint, spit
        bite, 9" x 27"
13. Strata, 2002, aquatint, etching, deep bite, chine colle,
        27" x 12"

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Contact Information
5020 Schuyler Street
Philadelphia, PA 19144
tel: 215-843-0201
e-mail: cbackstudio@aol.com
Please contact artist for purchases, commissions, etc.

Artist Statement
I work as a printmaker and painter.  I also use fragments of prints combined with gouache paint to make collages.  Each work is a reflection about our changing landscape: the spread of suburban environments, the subsequent destruction of habitats, farms and forests and the homogenization and sameness of much of suburban growth, strip malls and roads. I am also drawn to water for its design and abstract qualities, but most especially because it is a resource that is being commoditized, a force of nature that is destructive by its absence and presence, a life force, and a constantly changing source of beauty and pleasure.  Much current work is concerned with the idea of rivers and their tributaries.  In some I return again and again to the same place, portraying rivers and lakes in many panels to suggest light and movement changes.  I also focus on wetlands and land surrounding water and its importance to the future of waterways. Starting with observation, the final images are culled from memory, shaped by my own experiences and perspectives.  Repeated motifs stress fragmentation and explore composition, while the collage medium emphasizes the anarchistic nature of much of the current landscape.

I often work in series, finding it an excellent way to explore many possibilities concerning one theme.  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.

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

Affiliations
The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA

Awards, Grants, Residencies
2005
Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation
Grant

2003
The Puffin Foundation
Grant

2002
University Print Club, Cleveland, OH
Commissioned Print

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

Foundacion Valparaiso, Mojacar, Spain
Residency

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

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

1996
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc.
Grant

Selected Collections
Bristol Myers Squibb Co., Princeton, NJ
British Airways, Boston, MA
British Airways, Charlotte, NC
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

Selected Exhibitions

Solo

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

2008
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