Former church converted to house artist, gallery
By Perry Flippin, editor emeritus
San Angelo Standard-Times
Friday, January 5, 2007

Artist René Alvarado has converted the former Trinity Lutheran Church at Avenue I and Kenwood Drive in San Angelo into his studio, and a gallery as well as his home. The gallery is open to the public by appointment.

René Alvarado, the brightest young star in San Angelo's artistic firmament, is ready to open his newly transformed studio/gallery/living quarters at Kenwood Drive and Avenue I.

Alvarado, 34, acquired the former Trinity Lutheran Church in 2005 and spent a year converting the 3,250-square-foot sanctuary into a working art center. Because of the location's residential zoning, the artist will receive visitors only by appointment. Furthermore, because his dwelling was a former house of worship, he respects its sanctity and its architectural integrity.

"This was really a community effort because of all the years leading up to it," Alvarado said, naming teachers who guided him and patrons who sponsored him, especially Roger Allen at the Chicken Farm Art Center and Howard Taylor at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts. "I'm a romantic at heart. I love tradition and history within a community."

That love of place keeps him in San Angelo, even as art dealers as far away as Cincinnati and New York beckon him.

"Someday I want this to be part of the community where people can come and see the work and see where I once used to live," he continued. "I want people to see what I worked so hard for."

His dream is to one day give the church back to the community as a permanent place to display art -- perhaps his art.

Alvarado's art, distinguished by colorful imagery and primitive symbols, reflects his Mexican heritage. Born near Torreon, Coahuila, the artist came to San Angelo at age 10 with his parents, five sisters and three brothers. His parents, two sisters and a brother still live here.

"I paint emotions that come from the environment," he said, noting the oversized canvases that measure 5 feet by 7 feet or more. He particularly admires San Angelo's ranching community, describing genuine, down-to-earth people surrounded by open, surreal country with charming animals, trees and sunsets.

"When you see a landscape or seascape," Alvarado continued, "basically I'm using them as metaphors for emotions or content of that experience."

Every painting is different, and every moment is different.

"I have to have something I need to express," he said. "Most of the time, the imagery develops. I don't have an image in my mind. I just start painting. I really let the emotion just flow out."

He described his creative process as a conversation with the canvas, but he uses images instead of words.

"The audience sees them as decorations, but I know the content," he said, comparing his work to confessionals at church or interactions between best friends. His creations fetch between $200 and $16,000.

Alvarado insisted he has no favorite painting among his works, but he feels a special attachment to his largest canvas, which measures 8 feet wide by 5 feet high.

"The one piece I'm proudest of is the portrait of my entire family," he said. "It's layered, colorful and complex."

His paintings aren't abstract, but he does juxtapose elements in ways that make the viewer ponder their meaning.

"My paintings represent all the components of my experience -- metaphors, symbols, psychology," he said, noting that a painting is art only if someone will display it. "I still think I'm able to bring in aesthetics. That's important."

San Angelo, he continued, has wonderful opportunities for creating great art. He said his close family connections here make him feel doubly blessed.

"My mom is proud of me," Alvarado said, smiling. "I don't have a tattoo or a pierced ear. She still calls me her little bohemian."