Painting explores global concerns during the pandemic

Cynthia Bickley-Green, who has taught in the ECU School of Art and Design for 27 years, was honored for a painting she created during the pandemic at the City Art Gallery in Greenville.

Her piece, Lamentation 2020, is a 5-by-12-foot acrylic painting that was selected by the North Carolina Museum of Art for reproduction on vinyl to display at the museum’s outdoor park in Raleigh. The painting is composed of three panels that explore global concerns of racial equality, the coronavirus and climate change. The colorful abstract piece looks chaotic, Bickley-Green said, because of the nature and intensity of the subject matter.

Bickley-Green also participated in an exhibit at the N.C. Museum of Art called Front Burner: Highlights in Contemporary North Carolina Painting. The exhibit was on display through Feb. 14 and featured some of the most relevant and engaging paintings made in the state.

Bickley-Green is the coordinator of the art education program in the ECU School of Art and Design. Her research explores the biology of art, the intersection of visual media and pedagogy, and the development of social identities.