CALISTOGA — A new collection of artists moves into ECHO, Calistoga’s new alternative art space, this Friday through Oct. 6.

“Creatures” will feature sculptures, paintings, photographs and drawings by Joe Kowalczyk, Aida Gamez, Melissa Garden Streblow, Anne Pentland and Norma I. Quintana.

An opening reception with live music takes place Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. at 1348-A Lincoln Ave.

ECHO — which stands for Every Creative Hand Occupied — focuses mainly on Napa Valley artists, but also invites artists from the wider Bay Area to share their work and cross-pollinate art scenes.

Sculptor Joe Kowalczyk, the co-director of FM gallery in Oakland, creates playful but sometimes disturbing characters that peer down from the walls.

Aida Gamez, another East Bay artist, skins stuffed animals and then draws their not-so-lifeless figures in graphite. She says that she is “intrigued by what is visible on the exterior versus what is hidden inside” and she seeks to express the “inadequacy of perceptions built solely on perceptions.”

Napa photographer Norma I. Quintana is also attracted to what lurks behind the scenes. Her “Circus” series has followed the traveling life of one circus family over the past 11 years. Included in that family is a collection of sideshow stars such as the “World’s Smallest Horse,” trained tarantulas and snakes, and a collection of beloved dogs who accompany the performers on the road.

Melissa Garden Streblow and Anne Pentland paint creatures that are rarely seen, but highly prized. Streblow’s “Almost Gone” series uses her training in scientific illustration to capture endangered species of livestock. Pentland’s oil paintings and watercolors focus on exotic cats like tigers and cheetahs whose numbers are quickly dwindling.

New works will also be on view by resident artists Valerie Raven, Nikki Ballere Callnan, William Callnan and Oscar Aguilar Olea.