Who We Are

The Midwives Collective was founded in 2005 by a group of women artists who studied together at Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia. The Collective was born from the want to promote its members' unique visions, expose their work to broader audiences, and develop our members careers as professional artists. The Collective became known as the Midwives Collective & Gallery in August 2006, when the group acquired a studio space on historic Jeweler's Row in Center City Philadelphia.

From August 2006 through August 2007, the Midwives used the space on Jeweler's Row as a co-operative studio and gallery, as well as a place to host weekly life drawing sessions. In this inaugural year, their focus was on displaying the work of the Collective’s members in solo and group exhibitions as well as curating exciting idea-based exhibitions featuring the work of emerging artists of Philadelphia and beyond in the intimate non-traditional gallery space.

Since August 2007, the Midwives have continued to curate exhibitions, including Shadowboxing, Oct.-Nov. 2007 at Ruth’s Salon in South Philadelphia, and Finding Blue, March-April 2008 at Studio 34 in West Philadelphia and meet weekly for life drawing sessions. From Oct. 2007 through Oct. 2008, the Midwives co-sponsored the Philadelphia chapter of Dr. Sketchy's, a burlesque drawing event, that culminated in an exhibition of artists works at the Midwives' new gallery space at 1241 Carpenter St. To see photos from this show as well as other events produced by the Midwives Collective, visit their Flickr page.

Current Members:
-Sarah L. Hunt
-Christiana Kugel
-Elizabeth J. Smith
-Nora Hiriart Litz
-Carol Deutsch
-Bonnie Neary
-Kelly Burkhardt
-Ellen Bonett
-Debbie MaCarthy
-Cheryl Rybacher