By Abigail Jones

West Virginia University Libraries’ Art in the Libraries Committee selected Judith Wasserman, professor of landscape architecture, as the 2025 Faculty/Staff Exhibit Award winner and Franny Perez-Ramirez, WVU PhD student in the College of Applied Human Sciences, as the 2025 Graduate Student Exhibit Award winner. 

Wasserman received the award for her exhibit, “Activating Urban Space for Health and Movement.” This exhibit explores how public space can be a catalyst for physical well-being, creativity, and joy. Each panel in the exhibit includes reflections on how movement, when thoughtfully integrated into public life, can reduce stress, spark joy, and foster community. 

“My hope is that my exhibit will encourage everyone to experience the renewing and rejuvenating possibilities of the natural and built environment,” said Wasserman. “And most importantly, its potential to promote joy and community.” 

Perez-Ramirez won the award for “Layers of Self: Visual Narratives of Teaching.” Based on her research into how graduate teaching assistants’ identities intersect to shape their approaches to social justice, Perez-Ramirez transformed academic findings into collaborative works of art. 

Co-created with participants, this exhibit presents a series of collages with layers of color, texture, and symbolic materials to bring complex experiences and philosophies to life, revealing teacher identity as dynamic, contextual, and deeply personal. 

“What began as a research study has grown into something that allowed me to blend scholarship and creativity by making teacher identities visible in novel ways. My hope is that visitors leave the exhibition not only with a deeper understanding of educators’ experiences and beliefs, but also with an appreciation of how the arts can make research more human and accessible,” said Perez-Ramriez.