About

The Artist

Marcela Cabrera, known as Dahlo, is an artist, designer, musician and entrepreneur.

She draws inspiration from every day life experiences, subjects and themes such as feelings, culture, creativity, music, nature, people, sexuality, society and world news.

Dahlo’s intricate work is expressed through mixed media, drawing, paint, collage and technology.

Her art often embraces the feminine form and has been described as emotional, intricate and sensual.

Throughout her journey, Dahlo’s art has evolved and her rich approach and aesthetic has produced an extraordinary body of work that has been well-received by audiences worldwide.

As a level 1 Reiki master, she constantly infuses energy to her artistic and personal universe both in the physical and spiritual realms.

Dahlo is passionate about the blank canvas, the art of observation, ideation, and creative exploration.

Her most recent work has been labeled by some as reminiscent of expressionism and pop-surrealism. 

Exploring herself through art without limits has been a lifetime journey.

The Journey

Her journey began in South America.

Marcela was born in Bogota, Colombia and grew up in Venezuela alongside both her parents and 3 older siblings.

This is the place where her creative life began.

She started to display artistic inclinations at the age 2 when she deconstructed, reconstructed and recreated toys. She also drew and painted constantly using color pencils and oil paints.

As a young woman she acquired professional level education and graduated from the renown Newmann Institute of Design in Caracas. In this academy, she honed her skills both as graphic designer and illustrator. 

During this period of her life and shortly after, she worked as a consultant in the world of packaging design in her country.

She also worked as a Children’s Book illustrator working with renown publishing houses such as Ediciones Ekare and Monteavila Editores. She illustrated 9 books during this time.

As an illustrator, Marcela Cabrera’s work as a watercolor artist in the children’s book world has received critical acclaim.

Her work has been recognized by distinguished institutions such as the IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) in Switzerland, The Bologna Book Fair in Italy, The Contemporary Museum of Modern Art in Venezuela, as well as The International Dictionary of Latin-American artists.

When she moved to the United States as a young adult with the main  goal of learning the English language, little did she know that this crucial decision would propel her to the next phase of her life in ways she never would have imagined then.

She’s produced kids projects for Disney, Houghton Mifflin Co, IBM, Lakeshore Learning, Vivendi Universal and Namco Bandai, among others.

As a digital artist for the next 25 years, she’s immersed herself in the world of commercial art, UX development and technology working with IBM, Microsoft and Hitachi, among others.

She has been influenced by and has collaborated with hundreds of talented artists throughout her trajectory who have taught her about art direction, communication, humility, leadership, management and mostly humanity.

As an illustrator, Marcela Cabrera’s work as a watercolor artist in the children’s book world has received critical acclaim.

Her work has been recognized by distinguished institutions such as the IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) in Switzerland, The Bologna Book Fair in Italy, The Contemporary Museum of Modern Art in Venezuela, as well as The International Dictionary of Latin-American artists.

The Musician

Dahlo has been called a renaissance woman due to her interest in and ability to excel in many  fields and skillsets.

After attempts at learning musical instruments such as the saxophone and drums, she found passion in the bass guitar.

Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway!

Mostly self-taught, She became a musician in the last 10 years performing alongside well-known bay area rock bands for small and large audiences.

She’s played an eclectic range of music from Blues, Jazz,  Latin, Hawaiian, Pop/Soul, R&B and American and French Rock. 

She is currently learning how to play the Blues, Funk styles and the Beatles music.

The Surface Designer

To add to her bucket of artistic knowledge and skills, in recent years, Marcela learned surface and textile design at the renown Otis School of Design in Los Angeles. There she found a new way to express her creative ideas as a surface designer.

Her most recent collections are inspired by her extensive world travels, reflecting the colors, shapes, sounds and textures of the over 50 cities and countries she’s visited around the world throughout her lifetime.

Whether swimming in the beautiful beaches of the Belize, The Maldives or The Andaman Sea, connecting with folk artists in the streets of Cuzco, Otavalo or Oaxaca, traveling by felucca boat across Egypt through the Nile River, exploring the amazonian jungle in Venezuela, taking in the extraordinary Panama Canal, hiking the steps to Machu-Pichu or Chichen-Itza, making angel wings on the floor of the Parthenon in Athens (and getting in trouble), or simply walking down the crowed streets of London, New York or Paris, Dahlo draws inspiration from the people she’s met, the places she visited, the music she hears and the worlds yet to-be-seen.

Mostly her inner dialogue…Mindfulness.

Her work continuous to evolve as she explores and seeks for new forms of expression, subjects, techniques, materials, themes and spirituality.

Creativity has no limits.