Unlike most art classes at The University of Alabama, UH 155, a freshman honors class, allows students to create pieces of art that will be sold at the Good Art Show, which benefits Tuscaloosa One Place, a community organization that serves each member of a family with specialized programs.

Tonya Nelson, the UA professor who teaches the class, said UH 155 focuses on “The Art of Giving Back.”

“The class requires [students] to serve as mentors for students in local kindergarten and elementary schools who no longer have art programs,” Nelson said. “They work on art projects together and just spend time talking about each others’ day.”

Sidney Stratton, a freshman majoring in civil engineering, said she had an idea to make a wire and bead design, but changed her mind.

“I liked that the project would have a story,” Stratton said. “But, the students who would be helping are in the kindergarten, so we worried that they would be really upset and confused about why the beaded craft they made was being taken away from them, never to be seen again.”

In the end Stratton ended up creating Alabama and greek-themed koozies.

“I chose to do koozies because I wanted students to be able to take a reminder of UA home with them for the summer, wherever home may be,” Stratton said.

Jacob Powell, a freshman majoring in finance and accounting, was also a student in the class.

“I’m only doing one thing for the show – setting up a table with a connect-four board and letting passersby play in order to invent patterns to spray paint onto mouse pads,” Powell said. “If they win they get to keep the mouse pad free of charge, but I don’t expect to lose many times because, to be honest, I’ve played more games of connect-four in the last five years than anyone would think humanly possible.”

The Good Art Show has been taking place for a few semesters and so far has raised $3,000 to donate to Tuscaloosa One Place.

Sarah Hartley, a freshman majoring in biology, helped with the financing aspect of the Good Art Show.

“A few weeks before the show, we put up flyers and sent out emails among for students who weren’t a part of our class to submit art, with half of their proceeds going to benefit Tuscaloosa One Place,” Hartley said. “And the art show is our only means of fundraising, so we’re working hard to make it a success.”

Hartley said the Good Art Show is like any other art show except the students creating the work are not necessarily artists.

“The concept of art being in each of our lives every day was a little foreign to me, but now I see and appreciate things more in life because of the artistic values they possess,” Stratton said. “The main idea of the class that our own lives are a work of art is such a cool thing to think about, and it really puts the work I do every day in a different perspective.”

The Good Art Show will take place Tuesday outside Nott Hall from 1-4 p.m.