Cecelia Parker Schoening, also known as Scenic the Phoenix is a poet, artist, designer, and cognitive scientist foused on mindfulness and creativity in the age of information.
She is the Founder of FreshAIR Lab, Offline by Design, and Scenic Route Studios. She builds spaces for creative evolution and transformation
effervescence through mindfulness and creativity (E=MC2)
Cecelia flows through I/O cycles, embracing continuous becoming through space + time.
She draws inspiration from music, travel, and exchange where global meets local fluidly embracing new spaces, formats, and platforms to give life to her ideas.
Beyond her own studio practice, Cecelia creates spaces centered on new ways of seeing:
FreshAIR Lab, a living lab for arts + science (Play x Immersion)
OFFLINE by Design, futures literacy club (Memory x Agency)
Scenic Route Studios, design innovation and futures think tank (Mindfulness x Creativity)
KanvasXVogue, Afrocentric creative nonprofit (Afro Futures x Tech x Fashion x Visual Art)
and formerly
Curious@Google - 20% project at Google, a creativity incubator at Google Austin scaled through partnerships (music, graphic design, mural arts, culinary, storytelling)
Cecelia's creative practice spans aesthetics research, behavioral design, photography, collage, new media, fashion design, creative direction, and experience-driven events. She serves her community through climate leadership, creative mentorship, and multicultural exchange.
In a state of mindfulness, we become one with the sun, the earth, and the sky — and find peace. Inspired by zen philosophy, ecopsychology, neuroaesthetics, and embodied cognition, Cecelia's work taps into the healing, meditative power of the ephemeral. Going beyond technical traditions of photography, Cecelia dissolves and distorts reality using analog in-camera techniques— including blur, bokeh, reflections, and lens flares. Through her poetry, photography, and dreamlike designs, she imagines new ways of seeing the world with kindred eyes.
Cecelia balances her creative endeavors with pursuits in tech, design, and climate leadership. Cecelia founded Scenic Route Studios in 2022 at the intersection of mindfulness and creativity. In 2025, to take the vision higher, she introduced her AIR concept for creative wayfinding through complexity, an artist-in-the-loop innovation platform called FreshAIR. FreshAIR is a living lab for arts and science, a flywheel for creative evolution through Aesthetic Attunement x Interdisciplinary Insight x Regenerative Design. Taking the vision deeper, Cecelia hosts a futures literacy platform called OFFLINE by Design, sharing resources and hosting analog salons to built sovereignty for body and mind. As a 5th gen Montanan, nature is her first muse. She believes spending time together offline is the antidote for our technostressed society.
Cecelia earned a B.A. Cognitive Science at Yale, and studied Art History at the Prado in Madrid through la Universidad de Complutense. Her unique thesis at the confluence of Art Theory and Behavioral Science proposed behavioral design interventions for art spaces + museums to invite people into more reflective, participatory experience, enhancing the prosocial benefits of arts engagement for non-expert audiences.
Bridging arts + science through her studio and research practice, Cecelia loves spaces built for generative creativity and global exchange. Recently she's been featured in these spaces:
Sharing her research and art- and nature-based experiences for neuroplasticity and aesthetic attunement at
Liberty to Create: The Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity SfNC 2026
Let's Talk Transitions: ICA San Francisco x SF Climate Week 2026
Aesthetics 2025: Bridging Arts and Sciences hosted by ETH Zürich
Earth Day 2025 at Hutson-Tillotson University
SXSW at KMFA Classical 89.5
Exhibiting mixed media work, poetry, and photography with
University of Texas, Austin LBJ School
Mexicarte Museum
Contracommon Gallery
RichesArt Gallery
Austin Studio Tour
Kanvas & Vogue
reFIND x SXSW
Amplifying fellow Austin creatives in her local ecosystem through
ATX Art Beat published on Medium
Curious@Google
Al Fresco Fest
Bolm Studios
Rhythm & Poetry
2324 Studios
Cecelia’s creative spirit flourishes as a direct result of her diverse community and ecosystem, in Austin and beyond.
She loves collaborating with fellow visionaries across art, music, fashion, design, futures practice, and technology.
Questions for the 21st Century
What does it mean to see, to be conscious, to be an 'I'?
How do we know what's real, and what isn't? Do we create reality with our minds?
What purpose should society serve, especially in the age of mass media and globalization?
Why do we have such deep divides in our society? What can we learn by bridging our divides?
What are the ethical & evolutionary implications of ML/AI, space travel, and smart cities?
How do we create a more equitable world, where the collective benefits from our advances?
What does is mean to have power? and the repercussions & responsibilities thereof?
How do we incentivize long-term, inclusive, sustainable thinking in spheres of influence?
How can make peace, heal ourselves, and find purpose and joy in our short time on earth?
What will our legacies be? As individuals but also collectively as a human race?
How might we remember our oneness with nature and honor the living world?