Martin Holt

Martin Holt was born in London. He graduated as an architect from University College London and studied art at the Slade School of Art and St. Martin’s School of Art.

Martin came to Israel nearly fifty years ago. He started on his own but then joined with sculptor Frank Meisler in a partnership that lasted over sixteen years. Their office was in the Old City of Jaffa, where he designed everything from villas to schools and factories, winning several awards on the way.

The Yom Kippur war resulted in most of their clients canceling projects, and their office was closed down. Martin then decided to go in a different direction - graphic design and illustration. He worked with the legendary late Zvi Yannai, the editor of “Thoughts” for IBM.

Martin went back to London and then to Paris, where he lived for a year, rebuilding an apartment in the Rue Mouffetard in exchange for rent. While there, he became interested in Martial Arts and studied Aikido, and learned Shiatsu, well before it became well known, from a Japanese Sensei. He also studied healing using a traditional “Tibetan Singing Bowl” technique.

Upon returning to Tel Aviv, he decided to open his gallery-Shadma showing contemporary work by Israeli artists but morphed into a cartoon gallery exhibiting his work exclusively.