Mariya Kovalevska

Ms. Kovalevska is an experienced art teacher with a professional background in Visual Arts and textile design. She earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Art from the Kyiv State University of Technologies and Design in Ukraine. Before moving to Canada, she collaborated with Ukrainian fashion designers on creating one-of-a-kind textiles and was a commissioned artist herself.

Along with her passion for art, Mariya found an early interest in teaching. Since 2012, Mariya has introduced children and adults to the world of art and creative practices. As a teacher, Mariya constantly invests in her professional development to stay up-to-date on innovations in art education and to bring a contemporary view of art and culture into the classroom. She implemented a Digital SmartLab at NSAL, introducing students to digital art and 3D printing, and is currently working towards a Master's diploma in Art Education from Concordia University.

For Ms. Kovalevska, teaching art resides in implication in social life as much as in the creative development and exploration of the self and identity. As a socially active person during the last ten years, Ms. Kovalevska initiated and implemented eight cultural projects for youth and adults, internationally and locally, supported by the highest level of authorities in Ukraine, diasporan and academic organizations elsewhere. She traveled to Italy, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Brazil, and Canada bringing diverse participants together through artmaking and cultural exchange. One of her last projects became the “Foster Dialogue!” exhibition at Concordia University in Montreal as a response to the military conflict in Ukraine showing the potential of art for an evolutionary change through conversation, exchange, and empathy rather than aggression, exclusion, and force.

As an educator, Ms. Kovalevska celebrates diversity, and authenticity of artistic expression, as well as aims for her students to build up self-confidence and develop an appreciation for art and a sense of community. “I feel invested with a mission to be an agent of change and positive impact for the youth and the society as modern pedagogy moves towards global citizenship education”.