Next time you’re taking a trip down Park Street, make sure to glance up from the road a few times — otherwise you’ll miss some important artwork. As of this Monday, Dec. 15, two groups of University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduate art students will have their artwork displayed on billboards, one at 9 N. Park St. (one block from Regent Street) and one at 2342 S. Park St. (near the beltline).

The project originated in Jenny Price’s 2-D Design art class, in which students have been working in small groups for a month, developing, sketching and finally designing works of art to be considered for placement on the billboards. Local designers and artists helped the students complete the projects.

Although the students did receive assistance from both the designers and Price, she emphasizes that they did all the work themselves. “During class, I would walk around and meet with each group, assisting and critiquing, but the students made many sketches and formed the final revisions themselves,” Price said.

All the entries were evaluated Monday by a panel of three judges, two from sponsor Adam’s Outdoor Advertising and one from Kennedy Communications. The works were judged on the basis of six criteria, including visual impact and execution, and the winners’ billboards will be displayed at the Park Street locations for four weeks.

This year’s winners are as follows: Group One — Rachel Blawusch, Jessica Laurent and Codie Long, and Group Two — Martha Christian, Kate Pociask and Lexia Williams. Group One’s design features “Hello My Name Is” nametags, the most prominent of which is smudged with red and yellow paint. Group Two’s billboard shows a group of four people with nametags over their mouths, spelling out “Ever been labeled?”

With plenty of student art shows unattended by the general public, or even UW-Madison students in majors other than art, the billboard project will give the Madison community the opportunity to view the work of some of their own in a highly public setting. Community response to past years’ billboards has been positive.

“Last year, when we were putting [the billboards] up, some people walking by were asking us about them. I think people are excited about the billboards because they’re out of the norm — it’s not like a typical advertising billboard,” Price said.

In addition, the students in the class learned the value of working together in groups to create large-scale art projects, a skill many art majors may not learn in other classes.

“The most important benefit for the students is the involvement with community pros and the opportunity to gain real-world experience from the classroom,” Price said. “It’s a freshman-level course, so it’s great to show how their art can have an impact on the community.”