Indiana Township neuroscientist turns her passion to art

Paintings by an Indiana Township neuroscientist-turned-artist are on exhibit at Cooper-Siegel Community Library in Fox Chapel.

YeePing Lucia Wong Yip, born in China and raised in Hong Kong, worked as a cancer researcher for nearly four decades before reigniting her childhood passion for art.

As an artist, she uses the name Lucia Wong.

“I am inspired by my travels, looking at the beautiful scenery and the people I encounter,” said Wong, whose detailed watercolors depict her travels overseas but also her adventures close to home. “I live very close to Hartwood Acres and have spent countless hours hiking, hunting for wild mushrooms and walking the trails there.”

Her signature style combines vivid colors and reflections in landscapes, many of which were inspired by her travels in China, Japan and Southeast Asia.

Her paintings and ceramics are on display through Feb. 2 at the library, 403 Fox Chapel Road.

When Wong was growing up in Hong Kong, a middle school art teacher recognized her talent and helped hone it. But she followed another passion — science — into a lengthy career.

“My art teacher, Mr. Ha Lin Lee, saw that I had talent in watercolor painting and convinced my mother to allow me to take private lessons from him that summer,” she said.

“While I wanted to major in art in college, my older brother convinced me to major in science as a more lucrative way to make a living.”

Wong kept art as a hobby after she immigrated to the United States and earned her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Washington State University. Her master’s degree in cell biology came from California State University, and cancer research was done at UC San Francisco.

Her early work was studying radiation treatment for brain edema. She also did cancer research at Washington University in St. Louis in the hematology and oncology departments.

When her husband accepted a faculty position at the University of Pittsburgh, they worked together in neurobiology, focusing on the development of the nervous system.

It wasn’t until Wong retired in 2010 that she was able to devote her time to painting.

Jill McConnell, executive director at the library, said Wong’s work adds to patrons’ visits as they stroll through the book stacks.

“Her depictions of people and places both near and far are striking,” McConnell said.

Largely self-taught, Wong developed her own style of intimate human expression in her portraits.

A self-described admirer of nature and keen observer of people, Wong is a member of the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society and the Pittsburgh Society of Artists. Her work has been exhibited in the Embassy of Croatia and the Egyptian Cultural Center in Washington, D.C.