Olive Tree Gallery Safed

{{Infobox
|title = Olive Tree Gallery
|image        = [[File:Space holder.jpg|215px|alt=Abuhav Synagogue]]
|header1 = Hebrew:
|data2  =  גלריה עץ הזית
|header3 = Pronunciation:
|data4  = Zay-yit
|header5 = Other Names:
|data6   = Olive Tree Gallery
|header7 = Description:
|data8   = Exhibition of a wide variety of artists and artisans from Tzfat and Israel}}

Olive Tree Gallery is one of the first [[Galleries-and-Artists-of-Safed  |galleries]] that [[Safed-Tourism|tourists]] see when they get off the bus in the main [[Safed]] visitor parking lot, near the [[Maalot HaGardom Great Stairs Safed|Big Staircase]].

== Background ==
For many years the central square that was located between the Jewish and Arab Quarters of Tzfat served as a joined marketplace for both Jews and Arabs. After the [[Tarpat 1929 Arab Riots in Safed|Arab riots of 1929]] the British built a staircase through the marketplace to separate the two populations. Many of the old market buildings were abandoned during this time and by the early years of the 21st century, had begun to collapse.

The Sade family envisioned ways to utilize these buildings as part of Tzfat’s growing artist community. They renovated many of these abandoned buildings. In 2010 Avi Sade opened the Olive Tree Gallery in the largest of the renovated buildings.

== Vision ==
Avi Sade, proprietor  of the Olive Tree Gallery, planned to create a major international art center which would market and distribute paintings, sculptures, jewelry and Judaica produced by local Tzfat artists as well as other talented Israeli artists. The main gallery structure is over 200 years old and consists of six separate exhibition halls.
  
== Artists ==
The Olive Tree gallery exhibits the art of well-known established artists as well as the art of new artists and artisans.

=== Menashe Kadishman ===
Menashe Kadishman is one of Israel’s best-known contemporary artists. He is a native Tel Aviv artist who studied at the St. Martin's School of Art at the University of London. His works represent an aesthetic and moral response to history and he expresses the universal human meaning in his paintings including many depictions of nature, sheep and shepherding as characterizations of the human condition. Sheep portraits are Kadishman’s artistic trademark and the Olive Tree Gallery features many of these paintings and sculptures as well as other Kadishman works.

=== Reuven Gafni ===
The conceptions behind Reuven Gafni’s sculptures derive from Israel’s spirituality and physicality. Gafni has sculpted many works that he has dedicated to victims of Arab terror and Israeli soldiers.  Gafni works in stone and iron. The Olive Tree Gallery exhibits Gafni’s fine Judaica works including mezuzza covers and menorahs as well as other abstract sculptures.

=== Tzuki Art ==
Shai Peleg and  Orna Cohen Hazam created "Tzuki Art" which is displayed exclusively in Tzfat at the Olive Tree Gallery. The bright, imaginative designs are created with the goal of drawing observers to feel happy and uplifted when they view the Tzuki works. The colorful decorative pieces include humor and spirituality in their patterns and motifs. Tzuki Art displays candlesticks, serving bowls, metal flowers in their vase, multi-colored menorahs, vibrant seder plates and other items of both Judaica and general art. Tzuki Art is an unconventional art form which appeals to religious and non-religious observers alike.

=== Gallery ===
The Olive Tree Gallery also exhibits the whimsical works of Dan Shamir, the oil paintings of Sergei Moskalev, Yuval Mahler’s observances of Israeli life and Roman Glass jewelry from Kibbutz Revadim along with many other traditional and contemporary artists and artisans. The Olive Tree Gallery is open daily and is located opposite the tourist bus parking lot between the [[Old City Safed|Old Jewish Quarter]] and the [[Artists Quarter Safed|Artists Quarter]].

[[Category:Safed]]
[[Category:Jewish Art]]