Staff & Board

Alan Vincent Blunt

Executive Director

Alan Vincent Blunt is a visual artist, art advisor, and Executive Director at Gallery 263. His work focuses on themes of the human body, nature, memory, and the passage of time. He received his BFA in Photography from Lesley University and won the Photography Department Prize in 2018. Alan’s work has been exhibited and screened globally, with notable exhibitions in Budapest, Hungary; Glasgow, Scotland; Sikinos, Greece; and Brooklyn, New York. Prior to working at Gallery 263, Alan worked in various galleries and museums including the ICA Boston, Worcester Art Museum, and Galerie d’Orsay. He lives and works between Worcester, MA; Boston, MA; and Montréal QC.

Kaitlin Benton

Exhibitions Director

Kaitlin is a writer, researcher, and culture worker who has served the Greater Boston area arts scene, from galleries on Newbury Street and SoWa to museums such as the Institute of Contemporary Art and, currently, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. With a B.A in Art History and History focusing on 20th century Chinese print culture, Kaitlin brings her historical lens and appreciation for storytelling beyond the written word to connect people to their past and present moments. Ongoing research interests include reimagining time, space, and systems of knowledge in a post-colonial context as well as food diasporas, fashion/textile histories, and dogs – truly anything that helps us understand how everything is interconnected. With nearly ten years of experience in galleries and institutions, including roles in k-12 education, visitor services, curatorial, administration, and development, Kaitlin has dedicated her career to welcoming and engaging audiences in meaningful and accessible ways.

Sophia Day

Programs & Partnerships Director

Sophia (Phi) Day is an artist from the Chicagoland area who currently works in Boston. An interdisciplinary artist, her artist practice combines oil painting, printmaking, installation, and digital fabrication alongside her research practice. She graduated from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. concentrating in oil painting. She also received a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Painting & Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and she recently received her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Art at Tufts University. So far, her work has been shown in multiple cities such as Nashville, Chicago, and Boston. A teaching artist, she currently teaches at Bunker Hill Community College and has previously taught at RISD and the Tufts Experimental College. Sophia is passionate about the arts, food systems, and religious history and can be found at home with her dog, Tommy, when not at the gallery or in the studio.  

Marianna McMurdock

Communications Director

Marianna is a photographer and independent journalist. Her work focuses on mental health and education, exploring how communities heal and resist.  Her writing and photography have been published in The Atlantic, Boston Art Review, Boston Globe, Providence Journal, and MinnPost and cited in The New York Times, Politico and Mother Jones. She is currently a fellow with the Solutions Journalism Network, and has completed a Poynter fellowship as well as the NDA documentary photography workshop with support of a grant from Catchlight. For a series on segregation she earned the 2024 Ida B. Wells Front Page Award for Exceptional Coverage of Communities of Color from the Newswomen’s Club of New York. She is an Up Next member of Diversify Photo, a collective of visual artists challenging the way history has been documented. Before her journalism career, Marianna worked as a youth organizer in Providence. She is dedicated to making arts more accessible to young people.

Laura Kathrein

President

Laura Kathrein is a Boston-based community organizer, movement artist, and educator. She joined the Gallery 263 board in 2017 and has served as both President and Co-President of the board since 2021. Her work as a movement artist is featured at the Peabody Essex Museum, including the installation iEMBODY and film New Addresses. Laura is dedicated to maintaining creative spaces, like Gallery 263, as she firmly believes they are not only vital to the city’s artists but provide important social capital for the broader region. As a queer artist and gallery steward, Laura is thrilled to have the privilege to provide a space to spotlight the LGBTQIA2S+ community.

Ellen Buchanan

Vice President

Ellen is an arts administrator and community organizer in Cambridge and beyond. They have a background in arts administration, working in commercial galleries previous to their current role as the Gallery Manager at a local art consulting firm. Ellen is passionate about building community and making connections, and has a background in gallery management, event organizing, and fundraising. They are thrilled to bring their passion and industry knowledge to Gallery 263.

Joe Talloen

Treasurer

Joachim, Joe, is deeply passionate about the arts and their impact on society. Currently serving as a research and data scientist at McKinsey & Co., Joe came to Boston from Carnegie Mellon University where he earned his Ph.D. in Behavioral Economics and honed his expertise in data science and machine learning. As a member of the board, he spearheads the strategic vision, champions data-driven decision making, guides talent and operational direction, and lends an innovative touch to enabling robust fundraising efforts for the gallery.

Jaime Guyon

Jaime Guyon works as the development and marketing manager for Basil Tree Catering, an eco-friendly catering company in Cambridge. She graduated with a degree in vocal performance from Ithaca College and moved to Boston with aspirations of pursuing a career in classical music. However, her ever-growing interests in sustainability and food equity quickly eclipsed her ambition to become an opera star. From her home in Watertown, she is still known to sing an aria from time to time but has also added quilt making, watercolor painting, and block printing to her regular rotation of leisure activities.

Emily Lam

Emily Lam co-founded Rtangent, a Cambridge-based start-up focused on software applications to support improving access to cultural and historical venues with the use of physical and virtual exhibits of indoor spaces. Emily is a photographer and performs most of the photogrammetry done by Rtangent, as seen in the recurring Gallery 263 virtual experiences and by other clients, including the USS Constitution Museum, the Paul Revere House, and King’s Chapel. Emily Lam holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Boston University. Emily can be found throwing pottery, biking, climbing, and snowboarding.

Michael Rose

Michael Rose is an art gallerist and writer based in Providence, Rhode Island. Since 2014 he has served as the gallery manager at the historic Providence Art Club where he oversees three award-winning exhibition spaces. In addition to his gallery work, Michael is a popular arts writer. From 2021-2025 he authored the weekly art column for a statewide Rhode Island news outlet. In 2024, he founded New England Art News, a fast-growing weekly newsletter and blog serving readers throughout the region and beyond. Alongside these roles he is a sought after advisor, teacher, and curator. Michael holds a BA in Art History from Providence College and a Graduate Certificate in Appraisal Studies in Fine and Decorative Arts from New York University. He is delighted to support the important work of Gallery 263.

Doug Breault

Doug Breault is an artist, professor, and occasional curator and writer who served as the Exhibitions Director at Gallery 263 for over six years. His work has been included in exhibitions and screenings nationally and internationally, including at the MFA Boston, the Addison Gallery of American Art, the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art in South Korea, and Space Place Gallery in Russia, among others. Doug has over ten years of gallery experience across academic institutions, museums, commercial galleries, and nonprofit organizations, and is passionate about supporting artists of all experience levels in developing their creative practices.

Farah Joan Fard

Farah Joan Fard is a digital experience leader and content strategist who enjoys creative outlets like writing and painting. She is an arts advocate who established her own visual and media arts scholarship at her alma mater, Emerson College, and is interested in ways to support local art and equity in the arts for all. She is thrilled to be a member of the board at Gallery 263 and to support the gallery’s mission. Her writing has been published for sites such as Vanity Fair, GRAMMY.com, Star Trek, Marie Claire, and Bustle. She is a member of Cambridge Art Association and Arlington Center for the Arts, and loves to gig behind the drum kit when she has time.

Olivia Biel

Liv Biel is Exhibitions Manager at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. She has overseen the installation of over a dozen exhibitions including Derrick Adams: View Master, An Indigenous Present, Sara Cwynar: Alphabet, Charles Atlas: About Time, Tau Lewis: Spirit Level, Wu Tsang: Of Whales, lgshaan Adams: Lynloop, and a traveling survey of Firelei Báez, among others. Previously, Liv was Project Manager at Kate Chertavian Fine Art, an art advisory firm based in Boston. As an arts administrator and Cambridge resident, Liv is committed to uplifting artists and arts workers in the greater Boston area.

Steven Miller

Steven E. Miller is a long-time Cambridgeport resident and life-long political activist. His meandering career includes stints as a community organizer, educator, radio & TV presenter, high tech manager, health policy and transportation advocate, technical writer, journalist and book author, actor, and more. His focus is on strengthening the gallery’s connections with the local community.

Joseph Smolin

Bio coming soon!

David Craft

Co-founder

David is an artist, musician, wild edible plant forager, scientist, and a Cantabridgian since 2002. As a board member of Gallery 263, he helps with general direction, art selection, as well as food and music related events. He started the Gallery’s yoga program which has been in full swing since 2009. As an artist, he partook in the first Artist in Residency program at the Gallery, and also had an early solo show in January 2010 called Bread Machine.