Noticing the Beauty in the Mundane: Ava Murakami’s Exhibit Honors the Legacy of Cornelia Hoppe
The College of Education is proud to present the 2026 Cornelia Hoppe Art Exhibit featuring Ava Murakami (Class of 2027, Art), whose expressive figurative paintings invite viewers to slow down and notice the small, human moments that shape our days. The annual exhibit is named for Cornelia Hoppe, a 1951 education alumna and longtime couples and family therapist whose generosity helped establish an enduring space for student art in HEDCO. The inaugural Hoppe exhibit launched in 2022 as part of a vision to bring student work into the heart of the college’s learning and counseling environment, with pieces shown in the HEDCO Education Building so students, faculty, staff, and HEDCO Clinic visitors experience art in a shared community setting.
A life in full: Cornelia Hoppe
Cornelia Hoppe came to the University of Oregon from Portland, where she was raised after her family moved from Washington, D.C. during her grade school years. Although Cornelia was interested in studying psychology, her parents discouraged this path because she was a woman, so she earned her undergraduate degree in education from UO in 1951. After graduation, she embarked on an expansive personal journey that took her to Asia for five years, including extended time in India where she studied spirituality, energy, and destiny with a Brahman priest.
After returning to the United States, Cornelia earned a master’s degree in humanist philosophy from San Francisco State University. Although she taught briefly, she shifted into social work before opening her own marriage and family counseling practice in San Francisco, California. Cornelia transitioned her practice to teletherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic and continued teletherapy counseling sessions with her clients well into her nineties. Cornelia passed away in 2025 and indicated an estate gift to support the College of Education’s Counseling Psychology program, a department she admired and championed. Her named exhibit continues to reflect her belief that art can comfort, connect, and accompany people through change.
This year’s artist: Ava Murakami
Murakami’s work focuses on nuanced moments of human interaction that often go overlooked. She paints people sharing coffee and conversation, a brief smile exchanged with a stranger on the sidewalk, and the quiet togetherness of reading in a park among others. Through careful brushwork layered over gestural grounds and translucent washes, she captures the fleeting quality of connection and invites viewers to recognize the beauty present in ordinary scenes. Drawing on a personal archive of photos gathered while moving through daily life and travel, Murakami uses color that is true to life and then pushes beyond the observable to illuminate feeling, not just sight. Her current senior thesis explores the intersection of street photography and oil painting, continuing her study of spontaneity and everyday life. She hopes visitors will pause and reflect on the subtle moments that lend meaning and depth to their own lives.
“I aim to illustrate brief, nuanced moments, emphasizing the importance of both connecting and noticing. I invite viewers to notice the beauty in the mundane,” Murakami shares.
Why this space matters
From its inception in 2022, the Hoppe exhibit has served students and community members who pass daily through HEDCO’s main floor. The exhibit’s origin story is grounded in the belief that art belongs where people study, seek care, and gather, so its presence in HEDCO is intentional.
Carrying Hoppe’s legacy forward
Cornelia Hoppe’s life stretched across continents and disciplines, from spiritual study in India to humanist philosophy in San Francisco, and from classroom teaching to a lifetime of counseling. Her estate intention for Counseling Psychology and her named exhibit inside HEDCO represent a lasting commitment to care and connection. This year’s showcase by Ava Murakami renews that commitment. Murakami’s paintings ask viewers to slow down, notice, and reconnect with the people and places that sustain them day to day. That invitation reflects Hoppe’s own path, which was rooted in curiosity, compassion, and a belief that small moments can change a life.
Visit the exhibit: The Cornelia Hoppe Art Exhibit is on view in the Student Academic Services Suite inside the HEDCO Education Building within the College of Education complex.