You may have noticed a new piece of art on display near the young children’s suite at UUC when you came through the building last Sunday. “Mother and Child,” by Bonnie Hopper, is the newest addition to UUC’s permanent art collection.  This multi-media piece serves as a bright and welcoming presence as folks come up the stairs and is easily visible from Nathan Johnson Hall. The art work was donated by a group of 36 church members, friends, and families, coordinated by Judith Wood. They are very excited about giving this very vibrant, yet tender, piece to UUC so that we all can enjoy it long-term.

The artist, Bonnie Hopper, was born and raised in Seattle and is one of thirteen children. Art had always played an important role in Hopper’s life and in 1987 she began two years of study in the advertising art program at Seattle Community College. However, life derailed her dream of becoming a professional artist until 30 years later. In 2008, an unsolicited, unexpected portrait commission challenged her to take up her brushes again, full time. She often paints oil portraits or creates multi-media works, primarily of Black women, which reveal their beauty, pride, strength of character, and above all, their dignity. 

Hopper began her association with the Onyx Fine Arts Collective in Seattle in 2016. She was chosen as one of the winners of the Emerging Artist Scholarship Competition of Gallery 110 in 2022. Since then, she has had several solo exhibitions, including one at the Wa Na Wari Gallery in early 2023. An exhibit of Bonnie Hopper’s proud, regal, colorful work was featured in the UUC chapel in January and February 2024. That was when Judith Wood and friends fell in love with this piece and decided that it should become part of our permanent art collection. Thank you for this very fine gift!