About Fan Lu
• Traveling Artist • Painter • Illustrator • Educator
• Event & Exhibition Organizer • Homeschooling Mother
• Cross-cultural & Interdisciplinary Program Curator • Art Ministry Leader
My name is 陆帆 Fan Lu. I was born in 1990 in Shanghai, China, and grew up there. In Chinese, "帆" (fān) means "sail" and symbolizes a journey of setting sail and smooth sailing. Responding to God's calling throughout my journeys, I bravely embrace an arts missionary lifestyle, guided by a clear vision from above. I have been preparing and equipping myself to relocate wherever God leads me, while also considering the family as a united whole. For nearly ten years, I have been living in various places in California, including San Francisco, Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Piedmont Pines in the Oakland hills. Currently, I live with my husband and our son in Alameda, a cozy, walkable, and family-friendly island city in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Over the years, my academic experience has taken me through China, Australia, the UK, Italy, and the United States. In 2013, I graduated from Shanghai Normal University with a BA in Advertising Science (Journalism and Mass Communication Studies). Upon graduation, I was awarded the Shanghai Outstanding Graduate, a prestigious municipal honour that recognizes academic excellence, leadership, and impactful community service contributions. In 2014, I achieved an MSc in Management and Organisational Innovation with Merit from Queen Mary University of London. In 2019, I gained an MA in Fine Art (with an emphasis in Drawing and Painting) at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
Art was always a healing tool in the early years of my life, even though I did not have formal training until my second master's study, for it was a foundation for me in my perspective, but it was always a part of the talents given to and through my life by God. I applied only to art school, so I got accepted, and then I quit my very stable job at the Natural History Museum in Shanghai and came to San Francisco. In the same year, in 2016, my work started being exhibited in group shows in Florence, San Francisco, and Palo Alto. Later, I also had my own small-scale solo art shows in Alameda. My artistic practice explores a diverse range of themes, including nature, travel memories, music, faith, education, literature, and daily life, utilizing a wide range of traditional and digital mixed media. My creative voice and expression are not from nowhere, but rather deeply emerging from the personal stories and the complex early-life experiences, including the warmth of childhood memories from family and schools, as well as the adversities I faced and overcame growing up in the formative years, from infancy into my teenage years, which is complicated and accumulated psychological and mental burdens, shaped me, with resilience. However, the awakening time gradually also heals my heart and soul.
Before fully dedicating myself to the arts, my non-art academics and non-art work experience cultivated my work ethic and interdisciplinary thinking in a cross-cultural context. I previously worked as a part-time translator for the China Chief Representative of the New York Festivals Advertising Awards, and I interned at higher education institutions, including China Europe International Business School and the Harvard Center Shanghai. I worked full-time in public education at the government-funded, non-profit organisation Shanghai Natural History Museum, a branch of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, in a government-appointed position with job security and full benefits. In addition, I also experienced working as a substitute teacher, part-time working in primary and secondary education in both private and public schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, including San Mateo, Redwood, San Leandro, and Alameda, as well as volunteering to teach at the Museum of Children's Art in Oakland. Additionally, I was raised and influenced by my family of origin in an environment with generational educators and entrepreneurs, which instilled in me a legacy of high responsibility, a compassionate heart, and self-discipline, as well as a deep sense of high self-motivation.
In 2018, while I was still in my second master's degree program, after giving birth to my son, we began homeschooling and roadschooling our son, exploring and developing our family-owned style. It was not easy being a new mom and an emerging artist at the same time, but I could manage it because God gave me wisdom after a lot of unresolved emotions from my family of origin. Since 2020, I have designed and taught bilingual art courses for children and adults, both online and in person, and curated community events that integrated spiritual faith and cross-cultural considerations. For me, teaching marks the beginning of a new, deeper learning experience as an aspiring educator with a growth mindset. Since 2022, I have initiated and led our family's Music Art Ministry, which serves spiritual communities locally and globally, growing steadily, with a current focus on the Alameda Island community.
Even my artwork conveys a warm and uplifting message, but it was the result of internalization from pain and restoration, transformed into an outcome of light. I first came to know about the Christian Faith at the age of 12 in 2002, while attending boarding school. However, it was not until 2015—the year I was baptized in Shanghai—that my true faithful journey of the inner healing through nature and art began. One thing I am most grateful for is that I have walked a long and arduous journey to live an ordinary life. Now, the PRESENT as a gift, connecting my past and future! My continuous efforts and devotion reflect gratitude, resilience, caring, healing, and quiet strength, naturally being in the role of bridging cultures, expressing faith, and inspiring joy. Praise the LORD!
Art Philosophy
Art to inspire. Art for healing.
Paint to Celebrate!
Teaching Philosophy
Sow good seeds to the souls.
Music Art Ministry & Education
Visit Family Website: www.FGMusicArt.com