Mr. Jeff Torquemada
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There is a saying “Do what you love and you won’t work a day in your life”. I love teaching art and it is hard to believe I have been teaching 36 years (I don’t feel that old but then I am a leapyear baby). I began my teaching career in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District at California H.S. in 1976. I then spent 17 years teaching at Charlotte Wood Middle School before moving over to San Ramon Valley H.S. beginning with the 1994-95 school year. I have been here since and I must say I love the staff, the students and the community! In my Art 1 classes I try to give my students some of the tools they can use to understand basic principles and elements of art and design. We explore the use of a number of different mediums (graphite, ink, tempera paint, color pencil, watercolor, pastel, etc.). The class is structured so that there are exploratory exercises followed up by a longer term assignment. Several of the assignments are designed for possible use in an AP Studio portfolio (should a student decide to pursue that path in high school). In Art 2 classes students are instructed in the use of acrylic paint early in the school year. After this projects are centered on solving problems using the elements and principles of design. Several of the assignments deal with drawing from observation and nearly all of them are assigned with the AP Studio portfolio in mind. In AP Studio the students are expected to work independently upon the creation of a portfolio of work. This portfolio is made up of 18 to 29 pieces of artwork created by the student over the course of the school year. The two main sections of the portfolio are the concentration (or theme) of at least six works and a breadth section consisting of twelve works (the works in each section may not crossover). We had an outstanding group in 2 who took the AP Studio and 3D test; all but one participant earned a score of three or better. This is truly amazing considering the extremely high judging standards of the AP Portfolio reviewers. On a personal level I love to travel; my wife (also an educator but now retired) and I have bicycled several thousand miles in Europe during the last 16 years. We are also avid backcountry and telemark skiers and backpackers. And of course I love to draw (mainly wildlife though I am exploring watercolor landscape painting). Should you need to contact me I can be reached at my school email: [email protected]. My 2 schedule is: Period 1-Art 1 (J3) Period 2-Art 1 (J3 Period 3-AP Studio/Art 2 (J3) Period 4-Art 2/AP Studio (J3) Period 5-3D (J3) Period 6-Prep Period |
 
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