Menu
Adventures in Art curates luxury travel experiences focused on art, jewelry and fashion for museum patrons and art collectors around the world. Founded in 2011 by Karen Stone Talwar, the company is unique in its endeavor, providing customized itineraries and insider access to art capitals around the globe timed around art fairs, jewelry shows, and exhibitions at major museums.
Our private trips appeal to the art connoisseur who is seeking a one-of-a kind experience. Each meticulously planned itinerary includes luxurious accommodation and world-class food and wine, combined with visits to private collections and access to major museums, galleries, curator-led tours and historical locations. Collectors open the doors to their private homes, archives and ateliers, ratifying Adventures in Art’s mission to enjoy, educate and enlighten.
Our team of experts around the world can tailor a tour to suit your vision and goals, dream destinations, and preferred dates. Whether you’re a museum wanting an exclusive program for your trustees, a company in search of a unique cultural experience for your VIP clients, or a group of friends looking to make new memories together, we can help you connect with the worlds of art, design and jewelry in a way you’ve never done before. Adventures in Art’s client list includes leading art museums, auction houses, art colleges, and financial services companies.
Adventures in Art’s access to a wide range of art professionals provides travelers with first-hand knowledge of the art world. Art is examined in various sites of production and display including studios, foundries, workshops, galleries, museums, private collections and conservation facilities. Our network of scholars, experts, artists, gallerists and curators highlight the tours and bring knowledge as well as behind the scenes access.
Adventures in Art designs comprehensive itineraries for each trip, and every detail from accommodations and activities to trip flow and transport options is carefully researched and selected by our dedicated team. We know our destinations thoroughly, collaborate with exceptional in-country colleagues, and have extensive experience orchestrating unique adventures.
As Founder and CEO of Adventures in Art, Karen Stone Talwar has successfully combined her two passions: travel and art. Karen has extensive knowledge of the modern and contemporary art scene with her years of experience and education at some of the most prestigious institutions and galleries. Over the course of her career spanning over 25 years, she has had many different roles in in art consultancy, luxury brand development as well as high end travel planning. Her eye and natural instinct for art and culture play a strong role in shaping the company.
Abi is an experienced marketing and communications specialist, previously employed by iconic global brands in the luxury and fashion industries, including the Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton group and American Express Centurion. Prior to joining Adventures in Art, Abi was the Global Head of Marketing and Communications for the world’s longest serving royal jeweler, the House of Garrard, in London, where she was headhunted to build out the entire marketing department and managed iconic brand partnerships with the likes of Royal Ascot.
Abi has extensive knowledge of the full marketing, communications and branding spectrum, and particular strengths in leading international partnerships and communications campaigns with luxury brands serving high net worth clients. She holds a first-class honors degree in Economics with French with distinction.
In addition to her experience in luxury marketing, Abi trained in classical ballet at the Royal Academy of Dance and is a certified American Ballet Theatre teacher. She moved to New York with her husband in September 2020 and, in her spare time, teaches dance to underprivileged children in Harlem and volunteers for two non-profits.
Bucket list destinations: Japan, Argentina, Cuba, India.
Simran (Namrata) Khiantani, residing in New York with her husband and three children, is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, with a Bachelor in Fine Arts. She spends her summers between her husband’s hometown in the Canary Islands, Spain and her own hometown, Mumbai, India. She is also one half of the founding Partners at KAKHI— a Mumbai and New York based graphic design company that specializes in brand identity, wedding invitations, and fine paper stationery.
Prior to KAKHI, she owned her own design company in Mumbai, namely Dezignmatters, after working for Apricot Publications, India, as Senior Graphic Designer, where she was a member of the core team that launched L’Official India.
Apart from her love for graphic design, her favorite thing to do on any travel, is to look for spice stores, visit the local market, and attend a local cooking lesson. Inspired by Spanish cooking and bold Indian flavors and tips from her many travels, Simran loves to create new recipes, constantly introducing her friends and family to new flavors, while sharing them on her cooking blog.
Bucket list destinations: Japan, Morocco and Australia
JB Jones is a marketing professional with a background in the jewelry, art and fashion industries. As the co-founder of New York Jewelry Week, she brings her expertise in project management, organisation and marketing communications to her role at Adventures in Art.
JB began her career as a Design Director in the fashion industry in Los Angeles working for the likes of Tommy Bahama, David Meister and Eskander. In 2008, she switched gears and launched The Site Unscene, a street art gallery and emerging artists’ platform. She curated the first West Coast exhibition, held at Crewest Gallery, of the NYC based graffiti crew TC-5 and was a leader in helping to establish street art as a legitimate force in the LA gallery scene.
Upon moving to NYC in 2014, JB returned to fashion in a retail development & marketing capacity with a focus on jewelry. In addition to her role as Marketing Coordinator at Adventures in Art, she freelances as a marketing and social media consultant working with emerging and established jewelry brands.
Bucket List Destinations: Tokyo, Berlin, Portugal, Thailand and India.
Cindy is a seasoned Executive Producer in the Commercial Advertising World and brings her extensive production expertise to the overall planning and operations at Adventures in Art. She has worked and produced multimedia campaigns for some of the largest global brands, including American Express, IBM, IHG, Samsung, Tiffany, Unilever and The Coca Cola Company. Whilst at Ogilvy, she shaped the content production landscape and was crucial in creating and building a top level Integrated Art Content Department, which was a key player in the new multi-platform paradigm. Through her skilled style of management and knowledge of global resources, she led her production team in creating successful award-winning global marketing campaigns for Ogilvy clients.
Cindy enjoys living in NYC and takes advantage of all that the city has to offer – museums, galleries, music and dining. She also loves photography and delights in finding local photography exhibits throughout her travels.
Bucket List: Morocco, Australia, Italy.
Raised in Bronxville, New York, Alison draws on two decades of experience living abroad in Europe to ensure meticulous delivery of her role as Travel Planner at Adventures in Art. Her love of itinerary curation began as a student in Lugano at TASIS, where weekend travel to the museums, cathedrals and piazzas of Italy composed a core component of the curriculum. Following an additional four years at The American University of Paris, she returned to New York to embark on a successful career in luxury residential real estate with The Corcoran Group. After relocating to London, Alison was swiftly promoted to partner at a boutique real estate finance head hunting firm and spearheaded development of their fund raising and family office sectors.
Passionate about classical French cuisine and patisserie, Alison attended Le Cordon Bleu’s Grand Diplôme program, ultimately inspiring the purchase and renovation of a belle époque villa in the South of France. She currently lives in Cannes, and loves nothing more than witnessing art and travel create transformative moments for her two young children.
Bucket list destinations: Peru, China, Tetiaroa
For years Kat has worked in the arena of educational travel, helping high school teachers design customized tours abroad for their students. Working directly with educators, Kat would tailor and plan international itineraries around specific classroom themes or learning objectives. It was inspiring to play a small part in opening up the world to the next generation.
Kat grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has deep New England roots, but now lives close to Lake Tahoe in Nevada. She loves riding her bike and eating Oreos. Occasionally she does both at the same time.
A few of Kat’s favorite travel destinations have been New Zealand, Portugal, and Japan.
Bucket list destinations: Vietnam for the food, Argentina for the landscapes, and Mexico City for the culture.
Michael is a passionate traveler, jewelry enthusiast and collector who has been exposed to art around the globe. He now resides in London, following a decades long career in passenger aviation, during which he worked with airlines in Canada, the USA, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, providing commercial strategy and technology solutions. In particular, he enjoys research, problem solving and educating others. Michael is a believer in the expression that “a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” Consequently, he has facilitated recovery in aviation for events ranging from the 2010 volcanic disruption to other economic and political challenges. As part of a commercial group strategy, he enjoyed training staff at airlines across Europe and India, applying a curriculum developed by the International Air Transport Association.
On account of work, Michael has enjoyed living abroad and being exposed to cultures around the world. He has had the good fortune to travel extensively and to explore art collections internationally. In London, he enjoys the opportunity to visit galleries, auction houses and the West End shows with his husband.
Bucket list destinations include Antarctica, hiking to Everest Basecamp and Polynesia.
Solina Guedroitz has over 20 years of experience working in Public Relations and Event Planning. She started her career in New York City at Comité Colbert, an organization that promotes French luxury brands and cultural institutions. Here she met her husband and moved to Brussels.
Solina’s was instrumental in organizing VIP events for fashion brands including Fendi, Pucci and Alice Temperley; jewelry designers, and charities in particular Clic Sargent Cancer Care for Children. She also worked closely with her antique dealer husband on all his gallery projects and is now launching a Churchill program in their historical home in France.
A keen photographer of people and places; she recently received a BA in Photography. She has organized “Photography Days”, a program taking women to meet curators of photography exhibitions in Brussels and Paris.
Solina was born in Paris and still spends time in the South of France every year. She is multilingual due to her French and Italian background, is fluent in English, Spanish and has understands Russian, enough to get around in Moscow.
An art lover, collector and a passionate traveler, Solina feels most at home in a museum, gallery or an artist’s studio. Solina and her husband live in France at their family home, Château Montalembert.
Bucket list destinations: Iran, Trans-Siberian, Ethiopia, Japan and the Louvre in Abu Dhabi
Art Historian, Independent Scholar, Co-Founder of Women Art Dealers Digital Archives [WADDA], Former Academic Direction of Christie’s Education New York [2002–2021]
Véronique Chagnon-Burke has taught a wide range of subjects in art market studies and art history at Queens College, Parsons School of Design and Hunter College, among other institutions. Her museum and research positions have included work at the Museum of Modern Art and the College Art Association, and she has also worked at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris. From 2002 to 2021, she was the Director of Christie’s Education in New York, where she also taught the history of the art market.
A specialist in the 19th-century French landscape painting, her fields of expertise also include 19th-century art criticism. She received her Ph.D. from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, her M.A. from the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University and her Licence from the Université Paris-Sorbonne. She is also a graduate of the Ecole du Louvre in museum studies.
Recently she has organized academic conferences bringing together art history and art market studies. Her current collaborative project is the Women Art Dealers Digital Archive (WADDA). She is a founding member of the New York chapter of The International Art Market Studies Association (TIAMSA) and a section editor for the upcoming Art Market Dictionary to be published by De Gruyter, in Berlin in 2021.
Josephine has spent several years in the jewelry world, working closely with artists and makers, gallerists and collectors, students and storytellers. She has experience in retail and private selling, curation, event organization, and social media management.
Born and raised in New York City, Josephine recently relocated to Maine. She graduated from Skidmore College with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a minor in Studio Art.
Bucket List destinations: Japan, Greece, Peru
Art Historian, Independent Scholar, Co-Founder of Women Art Dealers Digital Archives [WADDA], Former Academic Direction of Christie’s Education New York [2002–2021]
Véronique Chagnon-Burke has taught a wide range of subjects in art market studies and art history at Queens College, Parsons School of Design and Hunter College, among other institutions. Her museum and research positions have included work at the Museum of Modern Art and the College Art Association, and she has also worked at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris. From 2002 to 2021, she was the Director of Christie’s Education in New York, where she also taught the history of the art market.
A specialist in the 19th-century French landscape painting, her fields of expertise also include 19th-century art criticism. She received her Ph.D. from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, her M.A. from the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University and her Licence from the Université Paris-Sorbonne. She is also a graduate of the Ecole du Louvre in museum studies.
Recently she has organized academic conferences bringing together art history and art market studies. Her current collaborative project is the Women Art Dealers Digital Archive (WADDA). She is a founding member of the New York chapter of The International Art Market Studies Association (TIAMSA) and a section editor for the upcoming Art Market Dictionary to be published by De Gruyter, in Berlin in 2021.
Amy is a Studio Art major and a Business Administration minor at Palm Beach Atlantic University. She grew up traveling around the States with her family and has traveled to Mexico and Haiti for volunteer work. Art became an interest of hers at a young age. She hopes to one day establish her own art business of sorts. At Adventures in Art, Amy often works one-on-one with the Founder and CEO performing various administrative tasks.
Bucket List: Italy, Australia, and Nepal
Leah started out her career in the banking industry and eventually put that experience to use in corporate settings by assisting start-up companies set up their finances & HR processes. Over the past fifteen years, she has worked in several different industries ranging from IT support services, to web design and more. She especially enjoys helping new companies grow their businesses.
Bucket List Destinations: Sicily, Greece and in the US – San Francisco and Arizona
Yilkal has over five years’ experience in website and software development. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and is proficient in a range of platforms, both front and back-end web development, and speaks multiple languages. At Adventures in Art, he plays a key role in ensuring the smooth operation of the company’s IT systems.
Following graduation in 2016, Yilkal worked for the Ministry of Innovation and Technology in Ethiopia for six months as a website system engineer, before spending two years as a senior developer for Cvent with MMCY Tech. In 2019 he became a technical project manager for the company, with overall responsibility for the management, performance, and completion of new projects.
Bucket List Destinations: Berlin, Paris and Jerusalem.
