Serena Kovalosky is the founder and creative force behind Artful Vagabond Productions. Her “vagabond” nature has always led her down paths less traveled in search of new people, cultures, landscapes and experiences while her “artful” soul saw the world through the eyes of an artist.
Serena spent a year in France as a college student and traveled throughout Europe before launching a successful career in the travel industry in Boston. She learned the art of traveling “close to the ground” by avoiding the usual “tourist traps” in favor of authentic experiences in the company of locals. She also experienced her first foray into film: she was invited to lead a tour group throughout New England with a television crew from the BBC for the filming of an episode of their travel show, Holiday.
In 1997, Serena traded her well-worn suitcases for an artist’s loft in Montreal to establish her artistic practice, becoming a full-time professional sculptor. Her work was featured as a short documentary on Canada’s Life Channel and Quebec’s Canal Vie.
She returned to her roots in upstate New York in 2005 to work on a new collection of artwork and soon became known for pushing the boundaries of traditional gourdwork into the realm of contemporary fine art.
She also began putting her project management skills from the travel industry to work, using the arts to develop tourism and boost the creative economy in rural areas. She developed and co-founded the Open Studios of Washington County biennial which held its first event in 2007.
Artful Vagabond was launched in 2009 and evolved into a series of artist interviews during the 365 Days Project in 2012. That same year, she was invited on a two-week curatorial tour of artists throughout Canada’s Yukon Territory which later resulted in a curated all-Yukon edition for ACS Magazine, weaving art and tourism into the international publication.
In 2014 Serena produced, curated and managed the Slate as Muse national art exhibition at the Slate Valley Museum which generated awareness and brought tourism to this rural quarry town in the heart of the “colored slate capital” of the world.”
Most recently, Serena began working on the film crew of Life on the Run, an innovative independent film that asks, “Why Do Art?” The experience led her to produce her own film, In Search of Magical Waters, currently in post-production.
