If I am successful in receiving the £10,000 bursary, I will use the funding to grow my creative business and deepen the impact of my artistic practice. As an independent artist, I have been creating and selling original artworks through my newly redesigned website, which now features an online shop. I have also established a partnership with TreeSisters—a charity dedicated to environmental action, women’s empowerment, and ethical, community-led reforestation. For every sale of my artwork, 1.5% is donated to TreeSisters, contributing to global reforestation and climate action.
This bursary would allow me to further invest in this initiative by enhancing the visibility of my work and scaling the impact of both my art and charitable partnership. In addition to creating and selling art, I offer creative wellbeing workshops through my website. These workshops focus on art as a tool for healing, mindfulness, and connection to nature. They are designed to support individuals’ mental wellbeing and foster community through creativity.
With this funding, I will be able to invest in targeted marketing to increase the reach of my work, purchase professional-grade art materials, and upgrade the tools I use to produce and share my art online. A portion of the bursary would also be used to deliver two free art and wellbeing workshops for underserved or underrepresented communities, making creative spaces more inclusive and accessible.
This support would be instrumental in helping me build a financially sustainable creative practice. It would enable me to maintain my values of community engagement, environmental consciousness, and social responsibility while creating a stable income stream.
Ultimately, this bursary will give me the opportunity to expand both the creative and social dimensions of my work. My goal is to use art not only as a form of personal expression but also as a platform for positive change—encouraging connection, wellbeing, and a deeper relationship with the natural world. This funding would be a critical step forward in achieving that vision.
My artistic practice is grounded in connection between people, materials, place, and purpose. I believe Darlington, with its rich cultural roots and growing creative energy, offers fertile ground for this kind of work. Through drawing, painting, performance, and collaborative workshops, I aim to create spaces where art becomes a shared experience, not just something to view, but something to feel, participate in, and carry forward.
I want to bring art into everyday life into community halls, schools, outdoor spaces where people who may not see themselves reflected in traditional art spaces can discover their own creativity. My workshops promote wellbeing, self-expression, and togetherness, especially at a time when community healing and inclusion are more important than ever.
My commitment to sustainability and global connection—through my partnership with TreeSisters adds another layer of purpose, linking Darlington to wider conversations about environmental care and responsibility.
By planting seeds of curiosity, dialogue, and creativity, I hope my work will help position Darlington as a place where art thrives not only in galleries, but in hearts, minds, and everyday moments raising its profile as a place where culture and community meet.
Born in Bolivia, I lived in several countries until the age of 7, which exposed me to diverse cultures and art forms that influence my work. I moved to London 22 years ago, where I now have a studio at Acme Studios. As a mother of two teenagers, I graduated with a 2.1 degree in Fine Art from the Sir John Cass School of Art at London Metropolitan University in 2015, balancing part-time work and family life.
My practice spans in drawing, painting, installation, performance, and collaborative art. Influenced by artists like Paul Klee, Aboriginal art, Hundertwasser, Dali, and the community art movement, my work bridges traditional art theory with new skills. Inspired by Bolivian artists Mamani and Marina Núñez del Prado, I aim to bring the values of my homeland and our planet into my art.
Line and space are central to my work. I use handmade materials like paper, acrylic, ink, and bamboo sticks to create pieces that resemble poetry, exploring form, meaning, and texture. Recently, I’ve incorporated metal and wood to create new textures, while my sketches engage with daily life and surroundings, focusing on lines and perspectives.
Negative space is vital in my work, helping create a flat visual expression. As Francis Bacon said, “Painting is the pattern of one’s own nervous system being projected on canvas.” The lines either follow or oppose the contours, forming the final structure and emotional depth of the piece.
A significant project was my hike from Calais to Barcelona, where I created 16 drawings inspired by my journey. Each piece reflects a unique experience from the hike, blending personal exploration with collaboration from people I met along the way.
I believe that collaborative art and human connection are central to the arts. Whether through material or immaterial means, my work seeks connection, bringing spoken, written, or drawn ideas into dialogue.
In addition to my art practice, I facilitate workshops and organize exhibitions across London. I am also a member and event organizer for Drawing London on Location. In 2018, I published a book with the group and have exhibited in 22 locations. Notable achievements include being a UK finalist for the VIA Art Prize in 2018, a finalist runner-up at the Saatchi Gallery in 2013, and a finalist for the 6th Landscape Competition at Art Show International Gallery in December 2022. My recent exhibitions include Art Show International Gallery in New York in December 2022, with a future exhibition planned for June 2025 at The Assembly House Trust.
I graduated with a 2.1 degree in Fine Art from the Sir John Cass School of Art at London Metropolitan University in 2015
I have been fortunate to receive several professional recognitions for my artistic work over the past decade, both in the UK and internationally.
In 2022, I was awarded a Finalist Award by the Art Show International Gallery in the USA, a recognition that highlighted the continued development of my visual practice on an international platform.
In the UK, I was selected as a Finalist for the VIA Arts Prize in 2018, a highly respected competition that celebrates cultural dialogue and Latin American and Iberian art in the UK. This opportunity helped connect my work to broader conversations about identity and cross-cultural exchange.
Earlier in my career, in 2013, I was nominated as Runner-up for the “Back to Nature” exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, a moment that deeply encouraged my exploration of sustainability and nature as recurring themes in my work. That same year, I received awards from Brent Art Council and Stable in Exile Gallery in recognition of my creative contributions to the local arts community.
These acknowledgments have supported the growth of my practice and strengthened my commitment to creating work that is thoughtful, inclusive, and socially engaged.
I am actively involved in creating and leading my own professional opportunities. I run an independent, multidisciplinary art practice that includes producing and selling original artwork, organising creative wellbeing workshops, and managing my own online platform. I have also established a partnership with TreeSisters, linking art sales to global reforestation efforts.
In addition to my studio practice, I volunteer as an organiser for Drawing London on Location, where I help coordinate monthly sketching events across the city. These gatherings foster a supportive community of artists and enthusiasts, encouraging observational drawing and shared learning in public spaces.
I also design and deliver art workshops, both online and in person, focused on themes such as sustainability, mental wellbeing, and collective creativity. These initiatives reflect my commitment to socially engaged art and creating inclusive, artist-led spaces where creativity can thrive and connect people from diverse backgrounds.
I have been commissioned and engaged by various public institutions to deliver artist-led workshops and community arts projects that focus on creativity, wellbeing, and public engagement.
In 2019, I worked as an artist-facilitator with Eye4Change, a non-profit organisation using photography and visual arts to inspire young people. In June 2018, I was commissioned by FlorintArtland to design and deliver a public workshop for the Plaistow Festival, engaging local families in collaborative art-making. From November 2017 to January 2018, I worked with Artichoke and the Royal Borough of Greenwich to deliver workshops for London Lumiere 2018, a major public light festival bringing together artists and communities.
In July 2017, I led a creative workshop at the University of Westminster’s FAB FEST, working with the Faculty of Architecture and the Fabrication Laboratory to explore structures through hands-on making.
Between 2020 and 2021, I also served as Director of Open Wellbeing Ltd, during which we received funding from Arts Council England to deliver a series of online creative wellbeing workshops—furthering my commitment to accessible, socially engaged art practice.
These commissions reflect my ongoing interest in public participation, education, and the transformative power of art in community settings.
While my work has not yet been formally acquired by a public collection, I have had the honour of donating one of my drawings, Calais to Barcelona, to the Contemporary Bolivian Trust as a gesture of gratitude for their support in my artistic journey. This organisation has played a meaningful role in encouraging and promoting Bolivian and Latin American artists in the UK and beyond, and I was proud to contribute to their efforts through my work.
The donation reflects my ongoing commitment to building connections between my practice and institutions that support cultural dialogue and emerging artists. I view this as an important step toward future collaborations with public collections and arts organisations that share my values around inclusivity, heritage, and creative exchange.
Yes, my work has been featured in several curated platforms and publications across both print and digital media.
My participation in the exhibition Faith in the City We Inhabit, which coincided with the opening of a new Zawiya by the School of Sufi Teaching (London) and was supported by Amal, a programme of the Saïd Foundation, was reviewed and featured in coverage surrounding the event.
I was also profiled in Latino Life, a prominent Latin American online magazine, in an article titled Cause and Effect in Bolivian Art, which explored the themes and cultural influences within my practice.
In addition, my work was featured in Unity.org in an article titled Drawing Attention, which highlighted socially engaged and community-focused visual art.
My practice was also included in the Abstracts of Childers Street Project, a series of artist interviews conducted by Dr Fran Hatherley, offering insight into the methods, materials, and motivations behind my work.
These features have supported greater visibility for my practice and helped position my work within wider conversations around identity, community, and contemporary art.
I am not currently represented by a gallery, as I have chosen to develop my practice independently in order to retain full creative control and explore a wide range of collaborative and community-based projects. This approach has allowed me to shape a multidisciplinary and socially engaged practice that includes drawing, painting, performance, and wellbeing-focused workshops.
Working independently has also given me the flexibility to self-organise exhibitions, deliver workshops with public institutions, and build partnerships—such as my ongoing collaboration with the environmental charity TreeSisters, where a portion of artwork sales supports reforestation efforts. I also maintain an online platform for selling and showcasing my work, which has expanded my audience and allowed me to remain self-sustaining as an artist.
While I value my autonomy, I remain open to future representation by a gallery that aligns with my values particularly those that support socially engaged, environmentally conscious, and community driven work. I view gallery representation as a potential next step in expanding the visibility and reach of my practice.
I participated in the Silk River Artist Residency in 2017, organised by Kinetika in partnership with the Royal Borough of Greenwich and supported by Arts Council England. This international residency was part of a wider cultural exchange project that connected communities along the Thames in the UK with those along the Hooghly River in India.
As part of the residency, I collaborated with local artists, community groups, and cultural organisations to create work that explored identity, heritage, and shared narratives through large-scale silk scrolls and public engagement events. The project culminated in a series of exhibitions and public walks, allowing us to present the work in both local and international contexts.
This experience was significant in shaping my interest in collaborative, place-based art and strengthened my commitment to socially engaged practice. It also deepened my understanding of how art can act as a bridge between cultures and communities.
Email: fabiolaonthemoon@gmail.com
Address: 165 Childers St,, London, England, SE8 5JR, GB
Local Authority: Canal River Trust
