1. New Zone Gallery 110 E. 11th Ave. 541-683-0759. NewZoneGallery.org.

2. Karin Clarke Gallery 760 Willamette. 541-6847-7963. KarinClarkeGallery.com.

3. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art 1430 Johnson Ln. 541-346-3027. JSMA.UOregon.edu.

As it approaches middle age — it was founded in 1983, meaning it’s about to turn 40 — Eugene’s feisty New Zone Gallery is getting not just getting older, it’s getting better. Long the institutional equivalent of your eccentric couch-surfing cousin, moving from one largely donated month-to-month downtown space to the next, the non-profit community gallery finally managed to sign an actual lease on its current quarters in the old St. Vincent de Paul retail store at 11th and Oak downtown. There, with greater stability, it’s continuing its all-comers exhibits — the New Zone runs on the principle that art shouldn’t be judged or juried, especially by commercial standards — while hosting activities from community figure-drawing classes to a music fest produced by the Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble. Back in the day, it was the New Zone that showed in its Salon des Refusés, with a thumb to the eye of the local art establishment, work rejected by the city’s official Mayor’s Art Show. More recently it took on a certain giant commercial track meet in Eugene with its sardonic Panem et Circenses (Bread Not Circuses) exhibit. New Zone may be heading for middle age, but it’s not yet seeking the middle of the road.

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