Art league president hopes to heighten awareness of the arts

Occupation: Artist and current president of the Discover Art League. Jose-Ochoa is a retired real estate and travel agent. Since her retirement she has been working full time on her art. She offers art classes at different locations.
Marital status/family: Jose-Ochoa moved to the United States in 1983. Before that she lived in Venezuela. For the past five years she has been married to Arthur Ochoa, a lifelong resident of Brentwood. She has two children from her previous marriage: a daughter, Laura Magid, who lives in Boston; and a son, Michael Magid, who lives in Los Angeles and works as a comedian/sitcom writer and a soccer coach.
Proudest civic achievement: Jose-Ochoa said she is very happy to be an active member of her church where she volunteers often helping with art classes and art projects for the children. Last Mother's Day she helped 40 of her church's children make cards.
"It was so much fun. These kids created things I wouldn't even imagine for Mother's Day cards," she said.
She likes to help people, young and old, learn more about the arts whenever she gets the opportunity.
She has also won several awards by entering her art in local festivals, fair and art contests.
Future achievement: Earlier this month she was elected president of the Discover Art League. She has been a member the league for five years. She was surprised and honored to be elected for the position.
"This will give me more of an opportunity for me now as president to do what I like to do, which is to increase interest of art around the area," she said.
Jose-Ochoa said she especially wants to see more art in the schools in the area and hopes the league can be part of that.
By the next few meetings Jose-Ochoa hopes to put a survey together to see exactly what direction the members of the league would like to see the association go in the future.
Discover Art League's goal is to enable people to discover art through education, appreciation and participation. That fits right into Jose-Ochoa's plans for the future.
Groups and organizations involved in: Aside from the Discover Art League, Jose-Ochoa also belongs to Latinas Club Forever. She is a charter member of this group that started about eight years ago. The idea behind the Brentwood club is to bring Latino women together no matter what country they are from. The ladies get together to share music, food and culture. They go on day trips and occasionally invite their husbands and families along to join in on the fun.
Hobbies: Jose-Ochoa said that her biggest hobby is painting. She works in oils, acrylics and three-dimensional art. She does both landscape and portrait work. She also enjoys photography and often takes a lot of pictures while traveling — another of her hobbies — to use for future painting projects.
Jose-Ochoa also enjoys collecting all types of music. Currently she listens to a lot of classical music because it puts her in the right mood for painting. She also enjoys environmental music like sounds of the ocean and rain.
Lately she has been enjoying spending time on Facebook where she can keep in touch with family in Venezuela and posting photos and copies of her paintings.
What was the last book you read: Currently she is reading "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown. Jose-Ochoa enjoys reading books in Spanish. One of her favorite authors is Isabel Allende. Her favorite book by this author is "The House of Spirits" ("La Casa de los Espíritus").
"I am a fan of anything history and am very curious about women who lived in the 16th and 17th century," she said, noting she also likes science fiction and paranormal books.
Favorite movie: Jose-Ochoa said she has many favorite movies, including "Mongol," which is the story of the early life of China's Genghis Khan. She is also very fond of "The Big Fat Greek Wedding" and many science fiction movies.