💧 Visionary nail art á la Alex Grey

Welcome back to The Drop In, DoubleBlind’s newsletter serving up news, culture, and independent journalism about the psychedelic underground straight to your inbox.

We all celebrate artist Alex Grey — even professionals in the beauty world appreciate his work! Our featured story today is about a nail artist with millions of followers who painted Grey’s intricate visionary art onto a (tiny!) set of fake nails. You can read about it below!

Keep scrolling, and you’ll find a freshly reported story on Naropa University’s decision to part ways with its Center for Psychedelic Studies, a piece on near-death experiences, and a theory about why jaguar visions occur during ayahuasca journeys.

In community,

Mary Carreón
Senior Editor

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Alex Grey’s Visionary Work Transformed into Psychedelic Nail Art

A Florida-based nail artist transformed several of Alex Grey’s masterpieces into a set of the trippiest fake nails you’ve ever seen.

If you’re not someone who gets their nails done, chances are your grasp of nail art stops at a coat of polish—let alone that it’s a bona fide art form. It blends precision, finesse, and craft and is genuinely among the most impressive mediums because nails are tiny! Most people can’t paint on a canvas that size. And, virtually anything you can dream up has likely found its way onto a nail. Disney characters? Absolutely. Snoop Dogg smoking a joint? Yes. Mushrooms, galaxies, intricate tile patterns, graffiti, animal prints? Yep—and then some. And now, one nail artist painted Alex Grey’s iconic pieces onto a set of fake nails.

Her name is Devin Strebler, and she goes by @nails_by_dev on IG. She shared a reel with her 1.3 million followers documenting how she meticulously painted tiny renditions of “Godself,” “Aperture,” “Flesh of the Gods,” and other famous artworks onto a set of fake nails. She has a nine-minute voiceover video on her YouTube channel explaining her relationship to psychedelics and psychedelic art.

“Growing up, being a crazy teenager, I definitely did my fair share of partying and experimenting with psychedelics,” She said. “During a couple of those trips, I really just learned to see art and nature and color in such a different way.”

Strebler says that partying almost prevented her from getting a high school degree. She was the girl who left school at lunch to get stoned and returned just in time for art class. “I would get back to school after lunch and just paint the craziest, trippiest, wildest things. [Art] was the only [subject] I succeeded in. I was always told by everybody that I wasn’t going to be anything, that I needed to get my life together and stop getting in trouble.”

Now, she’s a successful nail art entrepreneur — and on Grey’s radar. He recently reposted Strebler’s nail art on Instagram. She commented on the post: “OMG no way.. am I dreaming?!???” Strebler followed up with: “I’ve been shared by a lot of people, and you’re definitely the most important one yet. You’ve inspired me so much with your trippy art. It’s an honor 😭😭😭.” We love to see it.

The psychedelic nails are not for sale, however. She said they were extremely labor-intensive to make and would cost between $1,600 to $2,000!

While Strebler is the most recent nail artist to pay homage to Grey, she’s not the only one to do so. In August 2023, @hanmo_nails painted an eyeball, faces with electricity surging through them, and trippy designs á la Alex Grey.

Naropa Drops Psychedelic Center Amid Insurance Issues and Launches Memoru

The Memoru Center for Visionary Healing Arts, formerly Naropa's Psychedelic Studies Center, is now an independent entity.

Naropa University, a Boulder-based institution rooted in Buddhist-inspired contemplative education, has officially parted ways with its Center for Psychedelic Studies. This decision was made in response to its insurance provider refusing coverage for offering a psilocybin facilitator training program. Now, the Center of Psychedelic studies will operate as an independent institution — entirely separate from Naropa — called the Memoru Center for Visionary Healing Arts.

As part of the transition, Naropa canceled its psilocybin facilitator training program, which the new center will now take up. The Memoru Center plans to expand the curriculum with new courses, including one on “psychedelic ethics.” Sara Lewis, co-founder of the Memoru Center, told DoubleBlind that the shifts have been relatively smooth.

“Memoru has many experienced [professionals] in executive leadership, operations, and training roles who moved from the Naropa Center for Psychedelic Studies,” Lewis said. “Memoru also received all the intellectual property developed under the Naropa structure, so we can make immediate use of the curriculum and roster of capable instructors. The state approval for Naropa’s psilocybin facilitator training was transferred to Memoru, as well.”

The center has faced some challenges in getting up and running, including finding banking, human resources, and contracting for benefits like health insurance. Lewis says these facets of the new business are “close to being finalized” and Memoru will be insured by the time the center is working with students.

“Memoru is receiving quotes from the several insurance companies working in the psychedelic therapy sector,” Lewis says. “The challenge was that those companies are not also actively engaged in higher education insurance. We have no concern about having all necessary coverage in place well before Memoru will offer training programs or clinical services.”

Naropa’s insurance challenges mirror those faced by legal cannabis businesses, especially plant-touching operations in the early days of legalization. While state laws have legalized these substances, they remain classified as Schedule I drugs under the Controlled Substances Act. Since insurance companies often base coverage decisions on federal law and compliance, psychedelics businesses encounter similar obstacles as cannabis when it comes to securing coverage. Lewis says spinning off as an independent center was the most straightforward way to address the issue.

Naropa’s President Chuck Leif said the shift ultimately fulfills the university’s long-term goals, but the recent insurance issue accelerated it. “The creation of the Memoru Center is a natural progression of our vision, even if it came sooner than expected,” he told the Colorado Sun. 

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🍹 We’re not quite sure how scientists discovered this, but apparently, mixing Ozempic with one of the alkaloids in ayahuasca could be a breakthrough treatment for diabetes. Learn more here.

🍄 This mushroom may not be psychedelic, but it has potent magic to help you stay healthy in cold winter months. Meet this colorful fungus here.

🪵 Palo santo is ubiquitous in new-age and psychedelic festival culture. But is this sacred aromatic wood becoming the next victim of “conscious consumerism”? Get the full story here.

🍳 This is your brain on drugs—but it may look more like a pulsating flower than a fried egg. Discover the futuristic helmet that lets people scan their brains while tripping.

DoubleBlind Digs

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