The first fellowship awarded coincided with an invitation to exhibit at the Museum of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, D.C. As a result of both of those opportunities, Maria Luisa Pacheco moved to New York in 1956.

In 1953 Maria Luisa formed the group “Eight contemporaries” and in the art scene was symbolic with their aim being change and renewal all artists differed widely in style and skill.

On January 23, 1962, Maria Luisa opened a show at the Bolivian German Cultural Institute in La Paz, and the works presented were painted without reference to objective reality.

She has been identified as an important member of the vanguard generation (along with Guatemalan Rodolfo Abularach, Chilean Mario Toral, Colombian Omar Rayo, and Uruguayan Julio Alpuy) that introduced abstract language into Latin American art.

[2] The late 1960s and early 1970s saw an evolution to what some believe[1] was Pacheco's most mature work, using a style that even more emphasized texture over color, now relying not only on paint, but also on other materials such as sand, newspaper, plywood, and corrugated cardboard.