Endless Gratitude -
Visit our Special Thanks page.

In the spring of 2005, ZNE started as a small private group for mixed media artists. Inspired by the success and artistic communities of other online art groups such as eBay's ART CARD EDITIONS AND ORIGINALS (ACEO) and ART DIVAS (ARTDVA) - self representing artist and ZNE Founder, Chelise Stroud Hery, wanted to create an artist community dedicated to the interests and promotion of mixed media, altered art, and collage. Although ZNE has grown into incredible proportions with lofty goals -  a supportive artist community, and meeting the needs of mixed media artists and art enthusiasts remains at the core of the ZNE mission.

With the help of three talented fellow artists who acted as founding moderators for the group, (Kris Hubick, and Julie O’Neil) ZNE quickly grew to well over 100 artists – the vast majority of whom were selling on Ebay. After a few months, Emma Fashokun stepped up to the challenge of volunteer moderation – joining Julie, Kris, and Chelise. In the meantime, the founding ZNE group members got busy with ZNE specific art contests, art swaps, ephemera swaps, and collaborative art projects. The creativity, energy, and enthusiasm shared, was contagious. Soon enough, members expressed the desire to promote the art being created by ZNE members, beyond the group, and beyond Ebay.

All along, it has been the incredible community and supportive atmosphere fostered by the artist members that has allowed ZNE to move forward in striving for their goals. The group created a shortened URL to help guide the art viewing public to all Ebay ZNE listings – http://www.Ebay.ZNEart.com. Group members also held a contest to create a logo for variaZioNE, and then voted on a winner – which was created by member and moderator, Julie O’Neil. To make the use of the group name and logo a value added benefit of the group, the decision was made to file formal trademark and registration papers, and in doing so, ZNE became a formal eBay VeRO partner.

Once these steps were taken, the group was ready to promote their newfound and formal identity to the art world at large! Chelise contacted several media outlets - among them, Altered Arts Magazine and Somerset Studios. She worked with them to identify areas where they could help promote the group. Along these lines, in July of 2005, the first variaZioNE print ad ran in Altered Arts Magazine, with additional ads planned to run in September and November, and ads planned for Somerset Studios magazine in September, October, and November of 2005 as well. These and other promotional activities also create promotional value for all members using the ZNE logo.

The decision to create a public website and to open a tier of membership for all interested artists, (evolving from what had been a private group with a membership cap in place) arose out of many factors. The more ZNE promoted the group - the more people asked for a website so that they could visit ZNE galleries and learn about the group. In addition, even before ZNE began to promote the group and the group’s artwork and projects, a waiting list to become a member began to develop. Finally, the founding members of ZNE expressed a desire to move beyond the limitations of a strictly eBay presence, to maximize ZNE resources, outreach, and potential.

Group founder, Chelise Stroud Hery, took on the task of developing a website, under the auspices of her art business - and Julie O’Neil - who has a full service website design company (Alluring-Designs.com)- significantly discounted her services as a donation to ZNE, and was hired as the web mistress extraordinaire and technical director for www.ZNEart.com!

As ZNE continues to grow, we have expanded our efforts on behalf of mixed media artists across the world to include direct outreach in many ways. ZNE is an organizational member of Americans for the Arts (http://ww3.artsusa.org/), in the fall of 2005 ZNE will debut a scholarship available to art students worldwide, to augment the cost of art supplies, and through ZNE’s "Art With a Heart" program, each calendar quarter, ZNE members will designate a non-profit organization that receives promotional space on the website, and the group will make a direct contribution to the non profit.

ZNE actively seeks out collaborative relationships with other art groups and art communities, as well as art suppliers and vendors. The primary idea behind these collaborations is to provide benefits to both the collaborative identity, as well as all ZNE members - such as discounts, gallery opportunities, and networking.

The ZNEart.com website and the group variaZioNE continue to be under the direction of Chelise Stroud Hery with volunteer moderators providing management of the group, and all founding members serving as a steering committee for overall ZNE direction. The founding members are under the Fondante Membership Tier. While Fondante continues to have a membership cap in place, a second tier of membership, “ZNE Supporting Membership” is open to any interested artist or art enthusiast. Supporting members share membership wide ZNE benefits, are entitled to use the membership logo and acronym, and may participate in group wide contests, swaps, collaborative art projects and other activities. In addition, any Supporting Member can apply for membership in the Fondante Tier of membership, if they are interested.

Financial support for all of ZNE’s endeavors is provided by Chelise Stroud Hery, the combined fundraising efforts of the ZNE Fondante group members, incoming ZNE Supporting Members, and ZNE Partnership Collaborations.