Fan Lu | Educator · Artist · Curator · Painter · Illustrator · Wife · Mother
陆帆 Fan Lu was born in 1990 in Shanghai, China. Her name "帆" in Chinese is pronounced /fān/ in pinyin, meaning "All is well" and "Sailing." Her academic pursuits have led her to study and live in China, Australia, the UK, Italy, and the United States. Fan Lu holds a BA in Advertising Science (Journalism and Mass Communication Studies) from Shanghai Normal University, and in 2013, she was honored with the Shanghai Outstanding Graduate Award. In 2014, Fan achieved an MSc in Management and Organisational Innovation (with Merit) from Queen Mary University of London. In 2019, she completed an MA in Fine Art (Emphasis in Drawing and Painting) at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
After resigning from a stable, full-time position under the Public Institution BianZhi system at one of the largest Natural History Museums in China (the municipally funded, nonprofit public institution), Fan came to the USA in 2016 to study painting in response to God's calling and a childhood dream of pursuing an artistic path. Also, since 2016, Fan's work has been exhibited in group and solo shows in Florence and in several U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Palo Alto, Alameda, and more. Her artistic practice explores themes such as nature, travel memories, music, Faith, education, literature, and daily life, using a wide range of mixed-media materials. Fan is mostly great at abstract in music and landscape, but also skilled in various styles. As an aspiring educator, Fan has devoted much time to education, designing and teaching bilingual art courses for children and adults since 2020, both online and in person, and to curating community events that integrate art, Faith, and culture. For Fan Lu, teaching is a service to nurture and cultivate the community.
From 2020 to 2024, Fan started her own Chinese blog, sharing her art and Faith in everyday life, as well as educational insights and practices, which inspired many people and families. Students of all ages and different skill levels learnt with Fan and were nurtured along the way, with abundant art course content, inquiry-based teaching and learning, and many other teaching methods. She was invited to an art commission to illustrate an entire first-grade educational textbook for the Chinese Christian homeschooling curriculum, benefiting Chinese homeschooling families both in China and abroad. She also contributed a monthly column for a whole year, by invitation, to a widely known Chinese Christian newspaper in the U.S., sharing her original artwork along with the stories behind it. Fan has collaborated with dedicated gospel organizations and has been invited to deliver lectures at cross-cultural education forums and professional art education institutions, sharing her educational content as an insightful teaching artist. In addition, Fan designs art products and gospel-themed gifts based on her original artwork. She donates them to her family ministry outreach to local communities, mainly in Alameda, where her family currently resides. During the pandemic, she solely organized over 45 free online events, including bilingual storytimes, and, as the individual curator, invited many guest speakers to give thematic talks, all with the generous dedication to the community.
Fan's early practices in many non-profit organisations, and later her professional career in public education at museums, higher education at international business schools, primary and secondary schools, and the media, shape her interdisciplinary approach to art and teaching. Since 2018, after giving birth to their son, Bamboo, while Fan was still pursuing her second master's degree, Fan and her husband, Dr. Samuel Bai, have homeschooled their son through a faith-based, arts- and science-integrated model focused on nurturing creativity, spiritual growth, and lifelong learning. In 2022, they also began co-leading their family Music Art Ministry (now the Family Creative Arts Ministry), which serves Christian communities locally and globally, and collaborated with various cross-cultural churches in different locations. She appreciates celebrating the ordinary life as an extraordinary lifestyle. Fan has experienced many childhood and teenage early-life adversities and injustices in school, family of origin, workplaces, which are too deeply hurt to mention one by one, but survived, and thrived through, and truly lived out gratitude, resilience, healing, and quiet strength, bridging cultures, encouraging souls, and walking in the light by Faith.
The spiritual exploration and Christian faith journey enlightenment began in 2002, and Fan was baptised in 2015 in Shanghai, China. Now, after ten years, in 2025, Fan also continued to teaching online on her own platform in own designed bilingual art courses for all ages, have two new solo art shows of her original artwork, and, while working on the large-format custom artwork, and continuity for homeschooling, Fan also initiated many local community events, receiving much positive feedback in a non-Christian environment, which, however, really reflects God's mercy and grace. At the same time, she courageously initiated the Art and Faith fellowship group (Art and Faith Ministry) during the final stage of the two churches' merger and in the early days of the newly merged New Bridges UMC. Starting this group was Fan's response to God's calling to step forward in Faith—to preserve family unity and to offer her professional help to the church despite a complex, uncertain environment with unclear management and limited resources. It was also her way of giving back to Twin Towers UMC and Embrace, which had supported her artistic growth from 2018 to 2019 by providing her a temporary studio for her second master's thesis and her first teaching opportunity to women's fellowship group in the early post-graduation period, also was an unforgettable and challenging time for her family, as she kept on homeschooling baby son and her husband transitioned from scientist to music educator at that difficult time. No matter what, in the waiting season of Advent, it is a good time to reflect on holding Faith by fixing attention on God. This year, 2025, has been another fruitful one, with clearer spiritual discernment. No matter what the authority's re-narrative is, in any form, the truth will always be the truth. And, gratefully, the Holy Spirit has refreshed the soul in the Healing Art and living out Faith again.
As promised to herself, Fan wrote to herself when the art journey began in 2016.
Do good, for good, and all for Love. And she made it and developed further.
About Fan Lu's Art & Teaching Philosophy | Family Creative Arts Ministry
The Art Philosophy was formed when Fan Lu began building her own brand, FanLuArt, in 2018. "Art to inspire. Art for healing" was what she formulated to represent the first period in her art career; meanwhile, how art played a role in her life before, not only as a hobby but also as a way to gradually heal the adversities she endured as a teenager. Art heals Fan Lu so much in her recovery, helping her find herself again, with the depth and weightlessness of unspoken words in the profound spirit. While "Paint to Celebrate!" was what she envisioned for 2023, it represents Fan's second stage in her art career as a professional Artist Educator, as she develops her life in God.
The Teaching Philosophy was developed when she began working as an independent teaching artist-educator in 2020. "Sow good seeds in the souls," she defined it as a core value in all the events, workshops, courses, and Fan has initiated, designed, taught, and launched in various formats across different settings, including churches, for all ages.
The Family Creative Arts Ministry has evolved from her family music art ministry and now serves all ages. Her family with God is a forever team. It has been a mission with a calling, a responsibility, and a vision that has evolved over the years of the marriage, which began in 2017. Learn More & Visit F.G.MusicArt the Family Website.
Contact
For inquiries about original artwork or high-quality Giclée prints made from originals, gifts, courses, commissions, or collaborations, please email FanLu.Art@gmail.com
Thank you, and blessings!
It has been a fantastic journey full of grace and miracles as a beautiful soul meets so many beautiful souls along the journey. The soul resonance can travel throughout time and space. The most important is seen by heart; however, the souls recognize each other. I am grateful for knowing it because of the ones I have met since childhood... Now, while at the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026, I am mostly thankful that I bravely and courageously took the step ten years ago, and ever since then, I have kept moving forward, walking on the art path, for it is just the reason that I am in the world to be who I am to be.
- Fan Lu