The OZ Gallery is a distinctive feature of Congregation Or Zarua, identifying it as one of the few synagogues that maintains a program of changing art exhibitions. Under the direction of Bobbi Coller, an independent curator and Or Zarua member, the congregants on the Gallery Committee organize two exhibitions a year. The shows are selected to highlight examples of Jewish imagery, religion, culture, values, or history. We also display work by our artist/congregants.
The current exhibition, Wonder and Illumination, features the exquisite work of Barbara Wolff. Wolff uses the exacting techniques employed in the Middle Ages to create illuminated manuscripts based on Jewish texts. She is one of the foremost manuscript illuminators of our time.
The exhibition includes a series of ten illuminated paintings based on Psalm 104; artwork from a unique, commissioned Hagaddah now in the collection of the Morgan Library and Museum; artwork from a unique, illustrated Book of Ruth, also in the Morgan Library collection; and original designs for illuminated ketubot.
You can view a recording of Barbara Wolff’s presentation in the gallery as she describes her painstaking process that results in the remarkable work now on display in the OZ Gallery.
From Physical Space to Cyberspace: Bringing Art to Or Zarua
A Special New Year Art Review: The OZ Online Gallery During the Time of Covid
Beginning in the spring of 2020, the OZ Art Gallery moved out of its physical home, and took up a new domain in the realm of cyberspace and adopted a new name, The OZ Online Gallery. Instead of presenting twice-yearly exhibitions, the OZ Gallery now appears on the pages of the OZ Newsletter, where it offers art and learning on topical themes and festival or seasonal observances. In this digital realm, the OZ Gallery Committee continues to fulfill its mission of providing art that is beautiful, thought-provoking and inspirational to our OZ community.
Please click HERE to view this special retrospective of The OZ Online Gallery in honor of Or Zarua’s birthday that looks back at what has been presented since the Covid lockdown. We all hope that we will soon be able to return home to our physical space at Or Zarua and once again adorn the walls of the Social Hall with the creativity and insight that art provides.
Past exhibitions have included:
Creation narratives – Rudi Wolff
One Family – Photographs of Vardi Kahana
A Young and Hopeful Land: Israel’s Early Days – Photographs of Rudi Weissenstein
Additional Meanings – The Art of Summantics by Karen Shaw
Today I Am: Jewish Coming of Age Rituals
Our Colorful Bible, a series of serigraph prints by artist Rudi Wolff
Bagels, Babka & Balabustas: 100 Years of Jewish Food in America
Our Precious Legacies: Jewish Heirlooms from Congregants and their Stories
Through the Window: Enchanted Places & Magical Spaces, by Caroline Golden
Sowing Light: 200 Small Works by Congregants on the Subject of Light
In the Beginning: A Series of Ten Prints Inspired by the “Creation” by Rudi Wolff (special friend of Or Zarua)
The Colorful Hand-Made Quilts of Lorraine Shapiro (Or Zarua congregant)
Creating Sacred Space: Anniversary Exhibition Documenting the Building of Or Zarua
From Yankel to Yankee: The Americanization of Jews Reflected in Yiddish Theater and Popular Music (also displayed at Temple Beth El in Fairfield, Connecticut)
From Jaffa to Java: Ten Stories of Economic and Cultural Achievement in Israel
Jews Around the World: The Photographs of Zion Ozeri (Or Zarua congregant)
Five Books of Moses: Micro-calligraphy by Leon Azoulay of Safad