WAPPINGERS SCHOOL DISTRICT—The skies might have been overcast Saturday but the talent and creativity of Wappingers School District students and their art teachers provided the brightness and color that Mother Nature could not.

The 59th annual WCSD Festival of the Arts took place beneath an almost constant cover of clouds that, while ominous in appearance, miraculously cooperated and didn’t soak the earth until after the event, which drew thousands of residents to Mesier Park in the Village of Wappingers Falls.

On display for visitors’ enjoyment were artworks of every stripe, literally and figuratively. The fest featured a piece from just about every elementary student and all high school students taking art classes. Media varied from tempera paint, crayons, papier-mâché, and acrylic to photographs, colored pencil, clay, and oil and a wide array of techniques was represented. From Brinckerhoff Elementary there were Matisse-inspired stained glass windows and oil pastels in the style of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” Fishkill Elementary offered examples a metal-stamping technique called repousse, while Van Wyck students’ drawings of ancient Egyptian symbols were displayed. From Fishkill Plains there were self-portrait puppets, student interpretations of Hudson River School style, and recycled sneakers decked out with feathers, CD-roms, and paint. Wappingers Junior High Students created monochromatic mosaics that depicted events in history, while Oak Grove offered Native American masks and castle silhouettes. Evans Elementary came through with its annual “buffet” -- salad, French toast, onion rings, pepperoni pizza, bacon and eggs, and even a lobster, depicted in papier-mâché – along with modern-day interpretations of sarcophagi with the faces of Tinkerbell, Mickey Mouse, and SpongeBob SquarePants. Gayhead also offered the fruits of its students’ artistic labors: a two-foot banana, a strawberry the size of a softball, and other papier-mâché goodies. Among Kinry Road’s contributions to the day’s color palette were Colonial quilt blocks with names like “Sunny Kiwis,” “Joker Dogs,” and “Cotton Candy Twist.”

“I’m blown away,” said WCSD Board of Education president Douglass Bitteker as he wandered, umbrella in hand, between two rows of sketches and paintings created by students from John Jay and Ketcham. “I admire this. The creative talent the students have in this district is just beautiful.”

When they grew tired of walking, visitors could sit down near the gazebo and enjoy the sounds of a number of performance ensembles representing district schools, performing everything from sacred music to the Beatles and Counting Crows.

And in addition to the art on display, there were opportunities to be creative as well. High school students offered visitors the chance to throw clay on a wheel and color t-shirts. And in the southwest corner of the park was the paper bag hat-making station, where youngsters (and daring adults) could make themselves fancy chapeaux complete with ribbons and other decorations.

Overseeing the hat making, for the last time, was Ellen O’Shea, who has taught art at Fishkill Plains Elementary for 20 years and will retire at the end of June.

Though she loves teaching, O’Shea said that over time it’s gotten harder to completely immerse herself in it because “my own art is calling me.

“I’m spening all my free moments coming up with the kids’ projects and I need more open space in my mind,” she said, noting that she’s telling her students that she’s not retiring but rather “leaving so I can become a famous artist. I’m going to finally go to my studio and make my own art.”