VENTURA : Student’s Self-Portrait Featured on Nationwide Poster

A Ventura High School senior’s self-portrait, submitted as part of an art portfolio to earn college credit on an advanced placement examination, has been selected by exam reviewers as a model of superior artwork for the nation’s high school students.

The vividly hued watercolor by Randy Martinez is one of four works featured on a poster published and distributed to about 10,000 high schools across the country, said Walt MacDonald, director of the Advanced Placement Program at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J.

The other art on the poster, published by placement officials, is by students from Florida, New York and Georgia. “It’s pretty cool,” said Randy, 17, of the honor. His father is local artist Chris Martinez, and his mother, Kay Barr, teaches ethnic art at Ventura High School. Randy’s self-portrait was among 32 slides, two sculptures and other original work he sent to exam officials last spring for the studio art portion of the test.

About 5,500 students nationwide submitted portfolios for Advanced Placement art exams, MacDonald said. A panel of high school and college art instructors and professional artists evaluates the submissions for quality, breadth and expertise in specific areas, he said.

The exam is scored on a scale of one to five, and students who earn three or more points receive five units of college credit. Randy scored a five.

“Under his father’s tutelage, he came in already very strong” in his artistic abilities, said Ventura High art teacher Patti Post. “So our job was to offer Randy an opportunity to take that and develop it and grow and stretch in a lot of different directions.”

Twenty-three Ventura High School students took the Advanced Placement art test last spring, submitting more than 1,500 slides of their work, Post said. All the students passed the exam with scores of three or better.

Randy, a starting forward on the Ventura High basketball team who also works part time as a caricature artist at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Santa Clarita, has won awards from local arts groups, including the Ventura Arts Council, and at the Ventura County Fair.