Gabriel Marquez knows that with all the great art in the Borderland, there’s no reason to only celebrate it once a month.

This week he’s launching First Friday as a counterpart bookend to Last Thursdays, the monthly event that unites galleries in highlighting artists.

Marquez, one of the artists from the Casa Ortiz art gallery at 10167 Socorro Road in Socorro, said his goal was “just to offer another venue for art lovers and other creative people just to kind of come together and create a space where we can all share our creativity ’cause throughout the day to day, a lot of people are kind of focusing on the negative. But we can also just kind of let loose and explore other ideas that other people have as far as their artwork.”

The 38-year-old said part of the inspiration came from the six years or so he lived in Seattle.

“I moved back from Seattle, and over there, there were so many events taking place every week in different parts of the city. And so I was hoping to bring that home here, where people can explore different parts of the city at different times of the month — just so that everybody can kind of share the same amount of focus.”

Casa Ortiz’s inaugural First Friday will be from 5 to 10 p.m. and has a roster that’s special to Marquez.

“We’re going to have a lineup of artists that I’ve known for many, many years,” he said. “I graduated with them from UTEP, and it’s been about 10 years since and they’re continually creating.

“So, I wanted to invite them and showcase their work because they’re still making it and they’re still very creative. The work is very beautiful and I wanted to share that with the public.”

The artists will be presented in a group exhibition titled “Arbitrary Charm.” They are Laura Turón, Babak Tavakoli, Efren Solarzano, Jason Lucero, Miguel Valdez, Staphany Garnica, Theron Nicholson and a papier-mâché mask artist who goes by Xingaderas.

The permanent, five-member team of artists at Casa Ortiz — who in addition to Marquez are Diego “Robot” Martinez, Brian Holt, Nico Antuna Cooper and Carla Padilla — have brought innovation to an increasingly successful business model that offers visitors a diversity of activities and entertainment options.

Within the compound of adobe buildings are Casa Ortiz and Three Missions Brewery, (formerly Mission Trail Brewery), which is drawing beer-loving visitors drawn to its craft brews, most notably its pomegranate ale, and the Casa del Humo food truck, which offers ribs, brisket, sausage and brunch treats that can be enjoyed with the brewery’s drinks on wood picnic tables on the grounds.

Across the street, Casa Apodaca features the work of artist Turón, whose interactive “Paradox Pyramid” and intricately designed school bus are set up at the site. A restaurant also is planned for Casa Apodaca.

This past Saturday, guest vendors drew enough visitors to fill the large dirt parking lot behind Casa Ortiz. Some sellers were young artists, including college and university students, which the gallery helps promote.

Plans call for the Saturday Market to be held every other week, with the next one set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 15.

The artists at Casa Ortiz also take their work on the road, appearing at pop-ups and other art events across the county.

Marquez is incorporating several of these key options for First Friday.

“We’re going to have (Three Missions Brewery) available, as well as Casa del Humo, and we’re also going to have a performance. It’ll be about three hours long,” Marquez said. “It’ll be by Cuerdas, which is going to be an instrumental show.

“We’re going to have a cello player, and a vocalist and a guitarist that are going to collaborate, and they’re going to be playing all night.”

Cuerdas is set to play from 7 to 8:30 p.m., with Bards of the Revolution playing from 9 to 10 p.m.

Marquez added, “The event is free for everyone to come and enjoy and experience what we have here in Socorro, which is like a hidden gem right now.”

Marquez hopes the event grows.

“We’re continually going to be inviting artists to showcase their work here in the gallery and we’re always going to feature new upcoming and emerging artists,” he said.

“It’s going to be awesome.”