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Why Illustrator Rhode Montijo Still Visits His Art Teacher, 28 Years After High School
Illustrator Rhode Montijo graduated from Tokay High School in 1991. He still visits his art teacher Floyd Nordwick, whenever he's in Northern California.
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Sabrina Sanchez for KPCC
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Why Illustrator Rhode Montijo Still Visits His Art Teacher, 28 Years After High School
Rhode Montijo writes and illustrates children’s books, and he was a co-creator of the online animated series Happy Tree Friends.
But before all of that, he was in Floyd Nordwick’s art classes at Tokay High School in Lodi. He graduated in 1991.
Montijo, who now lives in Southern California, saw we were reuniting artists with their teachers, and wrote in to tell us about Nordwick:
I was the first in my family to go to college. I still keep in contact with Floyd and see him whenever I’m back home for the holidays. We talk about art, I send him my books, and he even gave me advice of what to look for in my partner before I married ... Floyd saw something in me and changed my life- I can’t thank him enough.
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This activity is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.
Featured music by Tri-Tachyon and ValentinSosnitskiy.
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But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.
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