Watfa Midani

A native of Cairo, Egypt, Watfa Midani was a prominent painter and sculptor who became a naturalized American citizen in 1973. She studied at the Art Students League of New York and in Rome. In the early 1970s, she moved to Pittsburgh with her husband, Akram Midani, the former dean of Carnegie Mellon’s College of Fine Arts.

Watfa's love of color, bright, attention-getting color, was prominent in her work. She wanted it to stand out. Nature was, to her, living proof that life was well worth living each day. She valued the images of the life we innocently walk through each day—from birds and flowers to the woods and fish—reflecting her belief that "The humanity is my world; I have become the meeting ground of my Egyptian birth and my American Experience."

A highly regarded artist, Midani served as the Art Commissioner for the City of Pittsburgh from 1985 to 1987. She was an award-winning artist with the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and received two Purchase Awards from the One Hundred Friends of Pittsburgh Art.

Her work has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions internationally, including venues such as the Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh), The Art Students League of New York, the Hillside Gallery in Tokyo, and the Turkish American Association in Ankara. Additionally, her pieces are held in private and corporate collections around the world, including at Alcoa, Dansk International Designs, and Westinghouse. She also contributed to the "Poetry on the Buses" project.