Willie Wells Painting

My official entry into the art world took place in 1992 when my work was included in the "Part Fantasy" exhibits organized by Nicola Tyson. These exhibitions, whose works were shown internationally soon after the NEA was being criticized for its support of "Robert Mapplethorpe: the Perfect Moment" forged an important direction in my art. A desire to depict ignored and controversial subjects still plays a vital role in my work today. My early drawings have been published in Sinister Wisdom, Common Lives Lesbian Lives, and Harmony Hammond's Lesbian Art in America. My paintings have been exhibited at Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art, in Newark, NJ as part of the Aljira National Five; I have had solo exhibitions at the Central Pennsylvania African American Museum, Reading, PA, and Johnson & Johnson World Headquarters in New Brunswick, NJ, among other venues. My work has been included in group shows at Flowers Gallery in New York, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco and Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle. Additional honors have included being listed in the 20th edition of Who's Who of American Woman, published in 1997. In 2013 I received a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.