GETAWAY — They were given sheets of colored glass and some basic supplies. Over the course of two or three weeks, 85 seniors at Collins Career Center fused their imaginations and their knowledge of math with those sheets of glass and fashioned works of art.

Tuesday, those works of art will be auctioned off to aid cancer research during the school’s second annual stained glass auction.

The money raised from the auction and the school’s upcoming Relay for Life will be donated to the Lawrence County Cancer Research Center, located at the Workforce Development Resource Center on Third Street in Ironton. The theme this year is “Cruising for a Cure.”

The auction is open to the public. Minimum bids start at $50.

The sky is the limit

Basket weaves, delicate hummingbirds, fairies, flowers and intricate geometric designs. The auction this year will feature it all — and, perhaps, some works of art that are a bit out of the ordinary.

Brian Johnston fashioned his glass into a turquoise Tucker automobile after prompting from math teacher Amy Brown.

“It was her favorite car and she asked me to do it,” he explained. “She was born the same year (auto maker) Preston Tucker died and she thought he was cool.”

While the classic car may be cool, making it was rough work, he said. It took Johnston two hours a day or two or three weeks to assemble the tiny pieces.

Jared Conley titled his work “Life is Beautiful.” It was inspired by a song of the same name.

Its color scheme was inspired no doubt by one of Conley’s favorite teams, the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Christopher Walker called his work “Super Nova” because “I think it looks like an exploding star,” he explained.

It is in memory of his grandmother, Jane Malone, who died of cancer.

Hope for a cure

All of the works are dedicated in honor of someone who survived cancer or in memory of someone whose life was snuffed out by the disease.

Kassandra Carter fashioned a pink rose in honor of her friend, Audrey Westmoreland, who is a cancer survivor.

“It made me happy,” Westmoreland said when she learned Carter was dedicating a work of art to her. “It’s really sweet.”

Life itself is sweet for Westmoreland. She had only a 20 percent chance of surviving her bout with cancer.

That was a year ago. She is alive. And a pink rose will forever bloom as testament to what she has been through — and survived.

Robert Slaughter dedicated his work in memory of his grandmother, Gladys Adkins, who died of cancer two years ago. There is a cross in the middle of his stained glass.

“She was a really religious lady,” he said.

Amos Cremeans titled his work “Determination.” While some students knew a cancer victim and dedicated their work to this family member or friend, Cremeans dedicated his work to Julie Gillespie, a woman he doesn’t know who nonetheless deserved to be remembered.

Math teacher Christi Faulkner said some of the names of cancer victims to whom art was dedicated were connected somehow to the school.

An education

While the stained glass is pretty and raises money for a worthy cause, it is also a tangible math lesson, because students must measure, use their geometry skills and create cost analysis before shaping sheets of stained glass into their designs.