Costa Rica’s talent has no limits, which for our TCRN team is something wonderful because it is an opportunity to make Costa Rica known beyond its incredible landscapes or exquisite gastronomy.
Its people are charismatic, creative, and multifaceted, just like Johanna Diaz, a passionate artist from the province of Cartago, inspired by the natural beauty of her country, Costa Rica.
In her art, acrylic, mixed media, oil, and watercolor are appreciated.
She has more than 12 years of experience in art, with extensive experience in different administrative areas, from 17 years old until today.
In constant training
She teaches Plastic Arts at the Universidad Continental de las Ciencias y las Artes. In addition, she studied Business Administration at the Universidad Americana (UAM); she has taken courses in Management and Education of Cultural Heritage at the Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, as well as six courses on artistic themes (Museo de Arte Costarricense-MAC).She has taken courses in Entrepreneurship and Graphic Design from the municipality of La Unión, also, with a certification in Assembly of Artistic Works from the municipality of Paraíso. She is a computer support technician from the Mario Quirós Sasso Technical School and studied basic English for business at the American University.
“At the University I have met excellent professors and done my research,” she said.
Her beginnings in art
As a child she was already attracted to art, she just didn’t know it. Johanna would draw her WinniePooh pictures and stick them on the wall, but it wasn’t until she was 17 years old that she felt the need to create. She began to follow the great artist Salvador Dalí, so she started to create works out of reality.
Today she defines art as, “the greatest therapy you can have”. For her, art means feelings and different ways of expression.
“When I make a work, I base it on a feeling with great meaning, whether it is something I saw in someone or something that happened to me,” she added.
Making art today
The Costa Rican artist considers herself old school, she likes traditional art, however, she says that it is always good to know what is current, “I do not dislike digital art, because if you create a work from scratch properly digitized if you are making art and at the same time is beautiful, another thing is to take an image already made from Google upload it and add filters that is not art in my opinion”.
Her works, an explosion of authenticity and creativity
She has been painting a great variety of works, imagine since she was 17 years old and today she is 34 years old. Her works are named after feelings, for example: courage, and thoughts with coffee aroma, among others.
Exhibitions inside and outside Costa Rica
Díaz has shown her works in exhibitions in museums, governmental institutions, universities, and galleries in Costa Rica and more than 20 countries such as Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, the United States, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Turkey, Italy, France, universities in India; organizations such as NellSegno del Arte and Mujeres Hijas de la Pintura (Women Daughters of Painting).
In Costa Rica, she has exhibited in the municipality of El Guarco, Casa de la Cultura La Union, National Museum, National Bank, Ministry of Culture, TSE, SleepInnpaseo Las Damas, Instituto Creativo, Galería Creativa, among other places.
Awards and recognitions
The artist from Cartago has been awarded more than 12 important prizes among them: 5 statuettes, 3 honorable mentions, award certifications, and several recognitions for her career by the College of the College of Journalists of Costa Rica, also as an outstanding artist of the canton of La Union by the local House of Culture.
She was awarded the National Prize of Fine Arts Cultural Heritage 2023, by the Administrative President of the Colombian Cultural Institute, and two Silver Centaur Awards by the Association of Journalists of Mexico.
She has a work published in the book Contemporary Art by the AssociazionesCulturalesNarda Martinez Pittrice and in the book of the Bicentennial by the Mayor’s Office of the canton of La Union.
Currently, she participates in national exhibitions with the OptimumArtist International Collective and is also part of the 600 Latin American artists exhibiting in Poland where her work is displayed at the entrance of the Manufactura building in honor of the city of Lodz, the work she presented has chromatic colors that refers to antiquity, that is, to the history that keeps this city.
On April 23rd, she was present at the opening of an exhibition called “Don Quixote in Costa Rica”, which selected one of his works to be part of the event, the work adorned the entrance.
She is the author of the book “Artists of the World”, this text has a great professional weight highlighting artists.
“Thank God I have been awarded with many recognitions both nationally and internationally, I feel very happy” expressed Diaz.
Vision for the future
Looking to the future, Johanna would like to have a solo exhibition of her work.
And regarding what she considers she still has to do, “We never stop learning, researching, studying and strengthening ourselves, which is vital in this world of art,” she emphasized.
On a personal note…
Johanna enjoys reading and painting outdoors.
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She admires Franklin Chang Díaz as the great character he is, for her perseverance, which has led him to successfully achieve his goals.
She notes in herself virtues and defects, which she shared with our TCRN team: “I am multifunctional and disciplined. My biggest flaw may be that if something does not go as I want, I get stressed or I get very intense because I want everything to go wonderfully”.
Finally, the Costa Rican artist as a message to her followers and our readers in Costa Rica and the world, said: “Fight for your dreams, do not stop and, above all, believe in yourself. The most important opinion is the one you think yourself”.
If you want to take a closer look at the artist’s progress, you can follow her on her social media accounts: She has two profiles on Facebook, one personal and one professional (Johanna Díaz and Soy Johanna Díaz); on Instagram, you can follow her as @johannadiazart and for special artwork requests you can write to her email [email protected] .
