Staff

LAURA MCGOUGH
Executive Director
Laura McGough is an arts administrator, curator and art historian. Over the past 30 years she has been employed at arts organizations in the US and Canada in a range of administrative and curatorial positions. During her tenue as video curator at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, McGough coordinated the video screenings and festival programming and managed the organization’s video residency program and cable access television program. As the Program Director at the newly established Washington Project for the Arts/Corcoran, she developed arts programming, including gallery exhibitions, public art projects and a guest curator program. In her capacity as an Independent Curator and Arts Consultant, McGough has curated film, video, web-based, visual arts and performance events for museums, festivals and arts organizations in US, Canada, Europe and Australia and developed board training, strategic plans and program evaluation for a range of nonprofit organizations. From 2000-2003, she served as the Multidisciplinary and Presenting Specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts where she managed a diverse portfolio that included artist communities, performing arts centers, alternative art centers and technology-based arts projects. More recently, as the Director at The Herter Art Gallery at UMass Amherst, McGough oversaw the presentation of visual arts programming and related events for a campus-wide community. McGough has received funding for curatorial and related research projects from NYSCA, the DC Commission on the Arts, The British, Council, and the Canada Council, and has served as a peer reviewer on numerous state and national grant panels. Laura McGough holds a PhD from the Department of Media Studies at the University at Buffalo and an M.A. from New York University. Born and raised in Jamestown, McGough is a Western New York native.
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Rosemary Williams
Education Director
Starting as a Book Arts Intern, Rosemary quickly fell in love with the organization and is grateful to continue to be a part of such a vibrant and quirky community art space. At Book Arts Education Director, Rosemary leads a team of Teaching Artists, coordinating with educators, artists, students and the community to engage learners of all ages and abilities with the curiosities of all things print & paper. She holds a BFA in Fine Arts with a concentration in Printmaking from the University at Buffalo, and has participated in a variety of Teaching Artist trainings, including programs led by Arts for Learning WNY, the Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center. In addition to her work at the center, she also dabbles in her own printmaking practice. You’ll most likely find her in a printers apron behind piles of paper on her desk at Book Arts. Some of her favorite things include: using a pica ruler, being around old & printy-things, and taking walks and looking at houses.
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Jameson Alea
Program Manager
Jamey originally learned how to do letterpress at Book Arts, and the first time they made a print on a Vandercook press, they were hooked! They started at Book Arts as a studio resident, then a teaching artist, and now you’ll find them helping out in the shop as well as the studio as Program Manager. A Western New York native, Jamey holds a B.S. in Digital Media Arts and Computer Science from Canisius College. They worked as a software engineer for a time before giving up that career to focus on their art, and they now run a small business called Fire Ecology Press. Jamey cares a lot about the Buffalo community, serving as a legal observer, and he is so happy to be able to engage with his city in a new way, by sharing his love of printmaking through Book Arts. He’s passionate about old media of all kinds, from cassette tapes to zines, and was a longtime organizer of the Sugar City Zine Fair (the predecessor to ZineFest)! He also loves riding his bike and you’ll often find him sitting beneath his favorite oak, apple or linden tree in Delaware Park.
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Santiago Andres Barajas Castillo
Studio Assistant
Santiago first came to Buffalo about 2 years ago. His first time exploring the city by himself he found Book Arts through the Summer of Bookfest, a series of days in which he made a handy book, printed on a shirt, and bought a useful tote bag. Although hardly an artist himself, he enjoys any type of hands-on work and was keen on seeing if he could volunteer there. He takes joy in being part of the workshop process and seeing the various creative wonders of his community made here. He is currently enrolled at ECC and can often be found volunteering at other amazing spots in Western New York.
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Sweety Kabra
Shop Assistant
Sweety Kabra started at Book Arts as a volunteer, assisting teaching artists conduct workshops, and eventually went on to lead workshops of her own! Sweety is passionate about paper craft and learning new art, and likes that Book Arts offers a space to create, teach art, and make a difference. Sweety also loves to do Henna, and also runs her own small business, WNY Henna Designs, which combines her love of art with the traditions her home country of India. In her role as Shop Assistant, you’ll find Sweety behind the register assisting customers, or behind the scenes helping to manage our intentory of handmade & artists’ merchandise.
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