Artists and art-making are no longer bound to specific locations. In today’s world, artists can take their ideas and projects with them. Such is the case with thChrch, an art space located at 3600 Rosa Street in the Lincoln Park community, founded by local media artist and founder Frank Luna.
Luna was born and raised in El Paso, TX. He attended Montwood High School (’94) and like many young people of his generation, he was interested in a career in film and video media. From 1996 to 2002, he took courses in film, creative writing, music and English literature at UTEP. He took film courses with Cynthia W. Farah and Willie Varela and received a BA in Creative Writing and later an MA in Animation in 2015. He said he got to a point that he felt he needed to move away to establish his career, so he moved to New York.
In New York he worked on video installations for several museums and made his way into art direction both on and off Broadway, helping to craft the look and feel of plays like “This is How It Goes” starring Ben Stiller, Jeffrey Wright and Amanda Peet.
Later, he teamed up with JVP Productions, where he developed artistic concepts, designs graphic elements for various brands and corporate promotional efforts. He designed and art directed multi-media events for Seton Hall Law, Spencer Tunick and the Hollywood Bowl. In New York he felt he needed a change.
In 2013, he moved to San Diego where he and his friends first opened thChrch—an art center in Barrio Logan at 2185 Logan Avenue. Luna said the name for thChrch came from a church that was once located where he opened the center. thChrch’s business model is an entrepreneurial work-study space as opposed to a non-profit space.
In recent years, Barrio Logan has experienced its share of gentrification and Luna said at first residents were leery of him opening a space in their neighborhood, so he said he threw a sofa in front of the building and sat there all day and night and talked to anyone who would pass by and had questions about what he was doing. He said he would ask people: “What do you think I should create here?” As a result of the community’s input thChrch was born. It sought to “educate and support artists that want to create their own careers.” It also spun off various businesses like a record shop still in operation.
Luna returned to El Paso in 2017 and opened thChrch here. It is not the first-time artistic efforts created elsewhere have transferred to El Paso. In 1981, the late Chicano Artist Felipe Adame painted his first mural “Virgen de Guadalupe” at Lincoln Park after painting murals in Chicano Park in San Diego in the 1980s. In 2008, brothers David and fireman Hector Gonzales were inspired by their visit to Chicano Park and in El Paso, along with Artist Gabriel Gaytan, they created the Annual Lincoln Park Day held every third Sunday in September.
Currently, thChrch in San Diego only operates a music production studio. thChrch in El Paso is similar to other art efforts which have opened to harness the creativity of El Paso’s artists. Spaces like the Artspace at 601 N Oregon Street, Dream Chasers Club at 200 S Santa Fe Street, LAIR Private Gallery at 222 Texas Street, Power at the Pass El Paso at 1931 Myrtle Avenue and Glasbox at 210 Poplar Street come to mind where artists work as entrepreneurs using a wide range of skills in fashion, fine arts, graphic design, music, multimedia production and photography.
When he is not working as the creative services director for KCOS-13, he is at thChrch working with others to ready the space to open this summer. thChrch is planning workshops for artist entrepreneurs and for young people as their budget allows. Barbara Postelnek, sculptor and resident of Barrio Logan in San Diego stated: “Frank was always upbeat, positive and future-oriented; he cared about young people and kept thChrch functioning for years here on Logan Avenue and his presence will be missed.”
Instagram: @thchrch | Facebook: thChrch | YouTube: thChrch
Words by: Miguel Juárez | Photos courtesy of thChrch ©