Jill Wells

America, b. 1980

Artist, Advocate, Mentor

Jill Wells has firmly situated herself within art and advocacy work and is best known for her public works investigating race, history, stereotypes, accessibility, and human experiences. Wells’ practice engages with individuals of all abilities, through various mediums, interdisciplinary art workshops, and talks to create new modes of working through the arts that are inclusive and representational.

From 2012–2020 Wells served as a Certified Alcohol and Substance Use Counselor for the state of Iowa. In 2020, she founded Artists X Advocacy Mentorship Program (AXA), an annual paid, young adult mentorship program, with initial funding from an Iowa Arts & Culture Resilience grant. The focus of AXA is to bring awareness to art as a career option, especially for people living with disabilities. In 2021, Wells was a TEDx speaker on The Power of Public Art and the lecturing artist for Al-Quds Bard College for Arts and Sciences in East Jerusalem for The Resistance Course on “The Disability Art, Revolution, and Advocacy in the USA. As the first artist and fellow of color at The Harkin Institute (2022–23), Wells represented the United States and Iowa on a panel at the United Nations in Austria, advocating for inclusive public arts. Her impact is tangible, as seen in her creation of the first multisensory, tactile mural and 3D tactile mural model plaque in Iowa for the Martin Luther King Elementary School in 2023—these works, which can be experienced through touch, sight, and sound.