I have lived in a chicken coop and made it my studio. Now I will live
in a church and make it not only my studio but also my home.

An Artist’s Sanctuary

In Rene Alvarado’s studio and home, a former Lutheran church, paintings have replaced pews. Alvarado acquired the 1929 neo-gothic church and spent a year converting the handsome, white stucco structure into an open space for living and working.

Alvarado saw the church as a work of art and focused renovations on the building’s architectural features. Inside the main entrance, he and designer Richard Round created a gallery space framed by the pointed arches of doorways and windows. Minimally furnished, the room’s simplicity preserves the integrety of the architectural design. The grand foyer, once lined with wooden church pews, now gives large surreal paintings room to breath.

The 32-foot-high transept, accented with heavy timbers arching skyward, serves as Alvarado’s studio. Filled with creative energy, the volumous space gives the artist freedom to experiment. Canvases in varying stages of completion are scattered throughout. Saturated with fresh, bold color, the paintings play off one other while surfaces move from glazed, luminous application to heavily modeled brushwork.

The eclectic studio filled with collections and junk store finds - castoff dolls, mannequins, vintage ceramics, vessels and wooden boxes - provide inspiration To one side, a large work bench holds assemblages - many of which serve as compositional elements in paintings. Throughout whimsy, a sense of the surreal and self-reflection cohabitate.

Alvarado acknowledges that all paintings, to a degree, are self portraits - “a theatrical stage where one can recreate self.” Current work narrates recent experiences; symbolic references explore the young artist’s physical and emotional transition from his ten year roost at the Chicken Farm Art Center to the sancturary that is now his spacious dwelling.

Top of page