Page 7 - Reedley Exponent 1-24-19 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent PB anorama
Section | Thursday, January 24, 2019 www.reedleyexponent.com
Meeting the staff of The Exponent
Students at St. La Salle School show off their auction items
More Photos, See B8
Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654
The View From Here
I've been working here at the Reed- ley Exponent going on close to five months now and although I have talked to our graph- ics artist, Tom Montijo quite
Juanita Adame
Paintings, drawings, and sculptures are part of Tom Montijo's art
a bit, I never knew exactly how talented he was.
We have been moving though our profile stories about the Expo- nent employees. Last week's issue, Jan. 17, we started the series with a story about our receptionist Kate Isaak.
This week Tom was available so I decided to interview him for our current issue. For those who wonder what Tom does at the Ex- ponent, he creates the advertise- ments for local businesses. He told me that along with his job here, he enjoys sculpting and painting.
I asked Tom to please show us some of his work so we could in- clude it in the article.
I was completely blown away by the detail and beauty of his pieces. He has such intricate work, it's amazing. It's always interest- ing to learn more about the people we see on a daily basis.
This week I also had the op- portunity to meet with Sister Lucy Cassarino at St. La Salle School. She invited me over to take some photos for the school's upcoming auction that will be held on Satur- day, Feb. 2, at the Reedley Com- munity Center.
I was able to meet several stu- dents from a variety of grade lev- els. They were all eager to show me their art projects and auction items. Onethatstoodout,wasthe Buena Aventura Mission project made by Josiah Jimenez.
Josiah posed for a photo then told me to look inside the mission. He added an extra room, the main altar of the mission complete with the surrounding artwork. Congrat- ulations Josiah, you and all the stu- dents at St. LaSalle deserve some recognition. Great job everyone.
Photos Contributed / The Exponent
ABOVE: Tom Montijo sat at his desk on the afternoon of Jan. 22. Montijo is a graphic artist but also paints and sculpts during his days off.
ABOVE: Carolina Hernandez, 9, prac- ticed a handstand during a tumbling class on the afternoon of Jan. 17.
Tumbling into the New Year
By Juanita Adame
Juanita@midvalleypublishing.com
Candelaria Hernandez sat and watched as her daughter, 9-year- old, Carolina Hernandez practiced her back flips on the large blue mat at the Reedley Community Center on the afternoon of Jan. 17.
"She loves this," said Candelar- ia. "She said she wanted to do this class, we had no idea it was here, I would find her practicing back flips in the backyard, now she can actually make her skills better."
The class is part of a series of other classes currently being of- fered including Hip Hop, Cheer, and Tumbling 1,2,3,4. They started on Jan. 8 and are 10 weeks long.
Anyone interested can sign up at the Reedley Community Center. For more information, contact
(559) 637-4203.
Photos Juanita Adame / The Exponent
ABOVE: Eighth grade students at St. La Salle Catholic School showing off a wood- en carved bench they helped decorate. From left, Antony Botros, Adan Vazquez, Justin Ochoa, Rebecca Barajas and Miranda Silva.
BELOW: Preschool students showing off a variety of items for their upcoming auction. From left, Matthew Rodriguez, Cecilia Reynoso, Arizona Busch, Eliza Feria
Photo Contributed
ABOVE: A cartoon figure drawn by Tom Montijo.
BELOW: House cleaning product im- ages drawn by Montijo for an adver- tising company he once worked for.
Juanita@midvalleypublishing.com
Turn to page A2 in any Reedley Exponent issue, at the bottom left hand corner is a box with a list of names. Several lines down the list is the name Tom Montijo. Next to his name is his title, "Graphic Artist."
Walk through the Exponent office on any given weekday, and most of the time, Montijo can be found work- ing on his next advertising design or sitting in the lunch room discussing the Los Angeles Rams.
"I have been here going on my fifth year at the Exponent," said Mon- tijo on the afternoon of Jan. 18. "The people that we work with here, I like everyone, they're fun to work with."
Montijo is a 1983 Fresno High School graduate and said he became inter- ested in art at a young age.
"I started with my art in grammar school," he said. "And I had received a scholarship to go to art school, in
ABOVE: Josiah Jimenez showed off his mission project on the afternoon of Jan. 22. His mission is the mission San Buenaventura in Ventura, Ca. Josia's mission comes complete with an inside altar and hanging artwork.
Staff Report
Principal of St. La Salle Catholic School, Sister Lucy Cassarino said students have been working hard on this years auction items.
Several students posed for pho- tos with their items, they included
hand painted furniture, quilts, and several school projects including a solar system and some mission projects. "I have been working on my project for weeks," said Jersey Reynoso.
Jersey completed a model of the Mission San Diego De Alcala.
Photo Juanita Adame / The Exponent
ABOVE: Gabriela Pimentel held her mission project inside her classroom. Gabriela's mission project was the Mission of St. Gabriel De Arcangel.
This year's auction will be held on Feb. 2, at the Reedley Community Center. Dors will open at 5 p.m. and will include a luxury buffet, des- serts, a live auction and silent auc- tion and a $5,000 raffle.
For more information contact 559-638-2621
ABOVE RIGHT: A drawing by Montijo he called "Gloria." By Juanita Adame
high school I started entering con- tests and winning awards."
Several companies have used his work and he said prior to working for the Exponent, he worked for an advertising company and created designs for them.
"I worked at Certified Ad's they did grocery ads and we worked 15 hours a day," he said. "They are an advertising company for grocery stores in the Bay area."
His favorite type of art is sculpt- ing, however he said he's worked with a variety of mediums. "There was a sculpture of a Native Ameri- can man I had to sculpt," he said.
SeeMONTIJO pageB2
“I worked on a project where I burned an image on paper, then airbrushed on top of it"
– Tom Montijo Graphic Artist
St. La Salle students prepare for 28th annual auction
ABOVE: From left, Miah Lopez and Josiah Jimenez held up one of the auction items they worked on with their class.
ABOVE: From left, Lillian Sanchez, Dominic Guerrero, Rogelio Ruiz, and Attalena Garcia held up a quilt that will be available for auction.