entheogen

art and design studio

emergence (innovation campus) - photo credit: Damon Brewer

interstice, spring 2024

emergence, fall 2024

emanate, summer 2024

synthesis, fall 2024

process

entheogen uncovers novel understandings through intentional questioning of assumptions upholding daily life’s navigation. understandings revealed through deep listening to the world inform art practice that stretches what we take for granted and play with our perception of reality. entheogen parses present circumstances from future trajectories, locating critical points in the tapestry of reality and pulling on loose threads, unraveling understandings of possibilities.

we come to understand the world and situate ourselves within it through art and design - creating aesthetic experiences characterized by wonder and complexity makes our reality (and ourselves) more wonderful and more complex. the art, for us, is somewhere between creators and experiencers - it is in this delicate choreography that new understandings emerge, often with deeper and broader implications than the creators could have originally imagined.

in Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown advocates for “shifting from ‘mile wide inch deep’ movements to ‘inch wide mile deep’ movements that schism the existing paradigm.” we couldn’t agree more: minds are changed and broken by powerful aesthetic experiences. these ‘fractures’ - people who are changed by art to think differently and openly themselves open plural possible futures and destabilize present gridlock conditions far more effectively than those caught in the sticky doomscroll-thrall of heavily advertised and corporately controlled media platforms.

entheogen, or, becoming the divine within, is the seductive light leaking through the gradually widening cracks in the status quo, a dulcet murmur half-heard, trickling down through our layers of consciousness. our design offers a tantalizing glimpse underneath reality, revealing that human life is a rapturous rupturing forward: as we arc back in on ourselves, we learn to release ourselves; only to return to ourselves: the originary lovingness of life.

for what are we, if not the universe falling in love with itself?

more on our design philosophy

see new projects

visit the following projects:

synthesis

PLA, mirrored acrylic, stainless steel bolts
2024

emergence

PLA, frosted green-tinted acrylic, stainless steel bolts
2024

innovation campus

a public sculpture for Virginia Tech’s new Innovation Campus in Alexandria, Virginia, outside of the Potomac Yard North Metro Station.

render for emergence

render for emergence

render for a public art project

lamps

temples

digital fabrication

interstice, 2024
carbon steel, frosted green-tinted acrylic, custom 3D printed pla brackets, stainless steel bolts, nuts, and washers
dimensions: approx. 36” x 36” x 24”
design software rhino+grasshopper enables the parametric generation of formwork, from which we use state-of-the-art digital fabrication technologies such as laser-cutting, cnc plasma-cutting, and fdm 3d printing to manifest virtual models into material reality. prefabricated parts assembly is modular and performed on-site, typically involving disassemble-able cold-connection joinery, increasing the ease of transportation as well as the recyclability of the project at the end of its use-life.

emanate, 2024
3D printed pla, stainless steel bolts and nuts, rare earth magnets, light fixture, led light bulb, electricity
dimensions: approx. 24” x 24” x 24”

emanate’s 3D printed spherical assembly is composed of cells printed individually and affixed to their neighbors by interior bolts and rare earth magnets, eliminating the necessity for support material and limiting wastage to <1% of overall mass.

reciprocate

reciprocate, 2023
braden perryman
5mm ply, stainless steel bolts, nuts, and washers
reciprocate is a study in creating reciprocal frame structures for architectural applications. creating flexible and responsive structures is beneficial in certain circumstances where load needs to be distributed evenly and omnidirectionally. reciprocal frame structures hold themselves up, without the need for traditional architectural framing systems such as posts, beams, or joists. reciprocate is one small paneling section envisioned to form a much larger structure.

assisted migration

assisted migration, 2024

2” x 4” pine, plasma cut 16ga steel brackets/panel holders, prefabricated casters, soil, mulch, and volunteer Japanese Maple saplings.
dimensions: 36” x 36” x 36”

assisted migration creates flexible and responsive micro-environments that benefit both human and nonhuman entities

biomimicry

nesting 01-03, and unfurl, 2023-2024
medium: laser cut 5mm plywood, paracord, and climbing carabiners
dimensions: (variable) (nesting) 36” x 36” x 24” (unfurl) 18” x 18” x 12”

bi·o·mim·ic·ry
/ˌbīōˈmiməkrē/
noun

the design and production of materials, structures, and systems that are modeled on biological entities and processes.

biomimetic forms are emergent structures composed of relatively simple repeating forms conglomerating into more complex wholes. biomimetic research questions whether humanity alone is capable of producing what we may consider architecture. referencing mathematical beauty in natural forms rewrites hierarchical narratives that prioritize human intelligence over the intelligence of nonhuman organisms and systems. nonhuman intelligences’ ways of being subtly shift material reality on physical and temporal scales that are often imperceptible to humans, going unrecognized and uncelebrated. after 4.543 billion years, the waiting is over:

it’s time to celebrate.

biofabrication

Weaving Weeds
weaving weeds is a biofabrication research project conducted with the aid of a Virginia Tech Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT) grant, inspired by the work of Dutch artist Diana Sherer.

Researchers
Braden Perryman, MFA Creative Technologies (BFA Studio Art, BA Sociology, BA Ancient History)
Chelsea Brighton-Smith, Masters in Landscape Architecture (BS Environmental Horticulture)
Ben Hornyak, MFA Creative Technologies (BFA Studio Art: Sculpture)
Lois Nguyen, PhD Science and Technology Studies (MS STS, BS Landscape Architecture)
Thomas-Mark Peterson, Masters in Architecture (BS Biology)
Maggie Webb, PhD Engineering Education / MS Civil Engineering (BS Mechanical Engineering)

entheogen

essays

megaliths

placelessness