Jose Guadalupe Godoy Diaz

My Story

I'm an artist looking for his voice and exploring the world of expression. Currently I teach art classes as a mobile art teacher. I travel around the Bay Area teaching in areas like Danville, Hayward and Castro Valley; In schools, sometimes events, but mostly in Community Centers. 

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Currently my biggest project has been establishing my very own recreational art school called the "Young Artist Program." 

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It has been a challenging project for me. From learning how to handle new students, brand new to the art scene, to having the lucky opportunity of meeting some truly hardworking artist who used Covid to hone their craft at a very young age. Truly a blessing to be able to be part of a young artist's path as they explore the world of art. 

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I started my art career at the very young age of 15 when I was able to participate in redesigning my local High School Academy's Logo. Soon after I moved away to Florida with family. In Florida I continued to grow as an amateur artist and before graduating highschool I was part of a small exhibit held at the St Pittsburg Salvador Dali Museum: The Dali. When I graduated I had set my goal on creating a business using my art skills and my love of economics. I was planning on putting myself through college and eventually med-school. Art was always on the back of my mind as I worked as a cook, attended college, and tutored math. 

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For a very long time I had art worked into my career path. When I was 14 and first got into the world of Psychology, I had started to express my teenage angst using art. I had just taken a deep dive into the world of troubled children, through the world of realistic fiction novels. Which eventually led me down the path of Art Therapy. Slowly as my love for medicine and helping others increased, my participation in my art hobby dwindled. Eventually art was just something I did in between classes and work. Maybe I hired an artist to help with running my logo business, where I would get the occasional client from friends and family.

It was during the pandemic that I truly took off as an artist and focused heavily on growing a business. I had taken on a project of hiring a team of artists, using the skills I learned from working as a cook where I ran a team of 16. The pandemic had shut everything down, I was living with friends from highschool in a tiny room. Then out of no where I got a client who wanted to make a comic. It was perfect. I had a team of freelancers from Europe, I had experience running a team, and I was hungry to learn. 

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That same year I had gotten the opportunity to work as a pod leader, teaching a small group of 3rd graders. It was just the right amount of extra income that I needed to focus purely on increasing my skills as a digital artist and as a business owner. I kept taking on clients and eventually I made the decision to focus solely on myself as an artist. I worked on decreasing my expenses, so that I could work less and make art more regularly. Eventually this led to the opportunity of a lifetime as I continued private child-care and development as my day job. I was able to create small programs for teaching art to students. They were beginner courses for new artists learning the craft. It was a great way to work on my personal art while also refinding the fundamentals. 

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In the Summer of 2023 I started my first season of the Young Artist Program. With 5 years of private tutoring, 3 years of child-care, and 5 years of running a kitchen I had finally done it. 

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Now I focus on increasing my curriculum as I teach new material every season. I work on my own private art as a side project. It works great for my lifestyle, as I grow as an artist I get to take young artists under my wing and bestow guidance that I learn along the way. It's a great pleasure to make art courses in a way that is engaging, entertaining and educational. 

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I hope to one day be able to have a team large enough to have an art production studio of my own. A place where I can work on my comic that I've developed over the years, a place for my team to work on personal projects as we grow and support each other as a team.