Preston Gaines

Preston Gaines is an architect and artist currently living and working in Houston, Texas. He received his BS in Architecture in 2013, and his MS in Architecture in 2020 from Texas A&M. Gaines has had his works shown in museum collections like the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston, and other spaces, most notably, his recent installation at the ION District in Houston. His immersive botanical installations and furniture designs raise fundamental questions about our collective experience and imagine radical possibilities for the future of art and design. Any built environment can have a physiological effect on the viewer inhabiting the space—Gaines’ intent is to go beyond that to a psychological level. Gaines started Inanimate Nature as a multi-disciplinary design collective, investigating the use of technology to re-establish our connection to the Earth and nature through design, epitomized in Gaines’ work with the Project Row Houses in historic Third Ward. Preston Gaines has been awarded the prestigious Houston Arts Alliance Grant, and is currently involved in the Future Is Unwritten initiative by Healing Arts Houston.