The annual Cornelia Hoppe Art Exhibit Award is open for students to submit artwork for exhibition in the HEDCO building and is named after Cornelia Hoppe, who earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 1951. Hoppe works as a couples and family therapist and recently included the COE’s Department of Counseling Psychology in an estate gift. 

We sat down with this year's award winner, Jasper Moon (he/him/his), who is graduating in spring of 2025 with a BFA in Fiber Arts to tell us a little about himself and his artwork.

Tell us about your art, specifically the pieces on display in the HEDCO Education Building.

My work from left to right: “Let’s stick together”, “Birthday:21”, “Poly”, “Man in two” (top), “Birthday:22” (bottom) 

I am ecstatic to be showing this collection of pieces in the HEDCO education building. The work seen here, and most of my work in general, revolves around queerness, and specifically queer communities. I focus on the joy that such communities can bring to one’s life, and the true importance they hold in the lives of many. In this collection, I am showing five pieces that fit these themes. The center most two pieces (Birthday:21 and Poly) are the first figurative works I made in my weaving practice, and the outmore pieces are ones I made almost exactly a year later in direct response. I am excited to show these works next to each other for a visual representation in how both myself and my artistic practice has changed over the past year.

Tell us a little about yourself and your background as an artist.

I am currently pursuing my BFA in Fiber Arts here at the University of Oregon, and graduating in the spring of 2025. I have been making all sorts of fiber arts since I was a kid. I learned to sew and felt with my grandmothers when I was just about 7 or 8 years old, and began to weave here at university. My current practice revolves around queer communities: their human imperfections, how either their abundance or absence affects the body. I’ve used soft art forms to depict the fragile human body as it experiences both celebration and deep loneliness. My practice begins with recycled or second hand materials, and through experimentation, builds past the initial objects into a fully formed idea. My work is deeply reliant on the human mark, and what it means to truly experiment, embrace mistakes, and work moment by moment.

How did you hear about the Cornelia Hoppe Art Exhibit Award?

As a student of the University of Oregon, I heard about the Cornelia Hoppe Art Exhibit award from one of my class instructors. It seemed like a wonderful opportunity and I am thankful to be able to show my work in this context.