Dozens of paintings, sketches, sculptures and even leatherwork with seemingly nothing in common but their craftsmanship had a very common denominator — all of the artists graduated from Powell High School and the majority had Bill McRann as an art teacher.

“I don’t know if it was luck or what, but I had a lot of them get started and a lot of them have done real well,” McRann said. “You try to get each one to do things their own way.”

The show featured work from alumni from each decade, starting in the 1940s on up through the present, said Jane Woods (Class of 1974). Woods and Karen Roles put the exhibit together and ran into some unexpected surprises along the way.

McRann taught art at PHS from 1956-74 and the “vast majority” of the artists on display were from that timeframe, Woods said.

“He was a phenomenal teacher and developed students into full-blown artists,” Woods said.

McRann said he encouraged his students to “not do the same thing as everyone else,” and that lesson shined through in the variety of art on display.

“They just kept coming and I had so many good ones,” McRann said.

A plate made by Mickey Lange (Class of 1961) was a little different from the rest of the pieces on display — and not just because it was the only plate.

Mickey Lange’s son, Cory Lange, had never seen the plate his recently deceased father had made and was surprised to find his childhood dog depicted in porcelain among the alumni artwork.

“Donna (Halpin) put that together and it was surprising,” Cory Lange said. He currently resides in Heber City, Utah and made the trip to Powell to represent his father, who’d passed away about a year ago.

“His dad and I go back far far far and I’m friends with his sister; and she mailed it to me to put in here as a surprise,” said Class of 1962 alumni Donna (Moore) Halpin of Ohio.

The surprise plate wasn’t the only piece of artwork made by Mickey Lange on display. A painting of a local cowboy, Ben Spomer, was also in the mix and was owned by his kids, Carl and Judy Spomer.

“The plate was the most-fun story,” Roles said. “I sort of hadn’t anticipated people putting in art from people who passed away — it is a nice tribute to people who are gone, but they cared for it themselves.”

“It really came together well,” Roles said. “It really is a perfect size, not too big or too small.”

The show featured about 50 pieces of artwork from 30 different artists.

Out of those artists, there were two pairs of parent-child artists — Shelby Wetzel (Class of 1981) and Quin Wetzel (Class of 2014), and Jerry Rodriguez (Class of 1975) and Kaiya Rodriguez (Class of 2007).

The art show featured alumni who reside in Powell and from coast-to-coast — as far east as Delaware (Daniel Bear) and as far west as California (Anne Bonner), Woods said.

“I was amazed at how good of a show it was,” McRann said.

Many alumni, their relatives, and other locals stopped by the art show at the Park County Fairgrounds on Saturday to see what Powell’s artists went on to create. Carol Haney Parker (Class of 1958) made the trip back from Longmont, Colorado, and said it was nice to see her old classmates’ work on display.

“It’s wonderful, I really enjoy seeing some really beautiful work,” said Jeanette Beavers West (Class of 1958). West had traveled back to town from Dayton for the festivities.

After retiring from Powell High School, McRann went on to teach art in Germany and Alaska before returning to live in Powell.

“I loved teaching art and I had lots of good students over the years — I had so many good kids and everyone said ‘how come?’ and I would say, ‘I think it is the water in Powell,’” McRann said. “We taught in lots of places, but Powell was a favorite place.”