October is known as the month where ghosts and goblins rule the night. With Halloween closing this spooky season, the New Zone Artist Collective thought it was the right time to summon the spirits of the paranormal and display the diverse artwork that came of the calling.
“This is just kind of playing with the idea of the Halloween season and so forth, and New Zone has a reputation for edgy type of work,” New Zone president Tom Higgins said. “We thought it was a good time to do a show with a paranormal theme. And that is interpreted in different ways by different people – some interpret it as ‘ghost-y’ and some have interpreted it as being a spiritual kind of a theme.”
The images for sale at the New Zone Gallery, located at 975 Oak Alley in downtown Eugene include a painting titled “When The Soul Enters The Body” and a small statue made from smoked fired clay called “She’s Coming.” Photographs, illustrations and even decorated Friskies cat food cans are also among the sundry pieces of art that will be on display until Oct. 27.
“One of the many interesting pieces that’s in the show is a Polaroid photograph taken by one of the (New Zone) members of the Anasazi Ruins,” Higgins said. “When he took the photograph, it was just a normal, sunny day; nothing unusual was going on. But when the photograph developed, there were streams of light that were coming down at different angles and intersecting the ruins. It was just one of those interesting phenomena that he happened to catch on film.”
The prices for pieces of paranormal artwork range greatly, from $8 for a Friskies can with a picture of a cartoon hippo bathing itself with a toothbrush, to $2,500 for an oil painting and recycled wood creation titled “One Hand Clapping.”
New Zone has been a vital part of the Eugene visual arts community for more than 20 years and is celebrated for its experimental and limitless forms of artwork. New Zone is also non-juried, meaning that members can show any type of art they like without having to be pre-approved by a panel of judges.
“We encourage each other to be better artists as we go along,” New Zone vice president William Baby said. Being non-juried leads the group to become more innovative. “It will allow artists to stretch and express themselves in a way that a juried group couldn’t do because of what (judges) think might be good. As an art organization, we’re more concerned about the fundamentals of art and less with the commercial aspect of a gallery.”
New Zone member and photographer Pat Sheehan also sees it that way.
“New Zone is a wonderful way for artists to display their own interpretations of art,” she said. “There’s no political agenda.”
New Zone is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization with about 50 members. New Zone is also active in promoting community outreach, participating in such activities as Reading in the Rain, Art Amore and arts programs for at-risk youth.
Exhibits change each month at New Zone, and New Zone hosts a reception complete with drinks and hors d’oeuvres every first Friday. Some months, the exhibits have no themes, so artists can display their favorite pieces of work, while other months have set themes to encourage member artists to explore some of their deepest creative influences.
“We do a theme show just about every month and that keeps things pretty active,” Baby said. “Artists want to do pieces for our art shows and having a new theme each month keeps things pretty fresh and keeps their art being shown. And you never know what you’re going to see at our gallery.”
“We definitely encourage coloring outside the lines,” Higgins said. “If you follow all of the rules, you’ll never discover anything new.”
For more information on the New Zone Artist Collective, visit www.newzone.org.

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