DES MOINES, Iowa — Local 5 first introduced you to artist Jill Wells’ art at King Elementary with her 3D tactile mural that gives children with sensory sensitivity the chance to experience art in a first of its kind way. Now, the Harkin Institute is honoring Wells for her work to make art accessible.
Experiencing art through a 3D plaque at the Harkin Institute in Des Moines is giving a feeling of freedom for Bettina and Cody Dolinsek.
“It allows me to independently check out the piece, to look at it, to get from it what I perceive,” Bettina said. “So it’s not coming from somebody else’s perspective. It’s my perspective.”
For Cody, going to art museums in the past has been frustrating.
“Everyone’s oo-ing and awing at a painting and you’re thinking to yourself, everything is black to me," he said. "There's no color or any sense anything has changed.”
Now, this 3D plaque is changing the blind experience and honoring artist Jill Wells.
The design depicts Wells’ tactile mural at King Elementary school in Des Moines. Wells partnered with several artists to create a different sensory experience for kids with different needs, with fabric butterflies to touch.
Wells' commitment to creating more inclusive art is inspired by her brother, LeeCole.
In 1998, when he was just about to graduate high school, LeeCole suffered a rupture in his brain while he was sleeping. The rupture caused massive bleeding, a heart attack and permanent brain damage. He also lost his vision.
Wells describes her brother before the rupture as constantly challenging himself to be better. Growing up, LeeCole would place multiple garbage cans in the driveway to challenge himself while dribbling.
This taught Wells an extremely valuable lesson: If you meet a person who intentionally places obstacles in their own way over and over again in life to better themselves, you better watch out for that person when life itself places obstacles in their own way.
Many years into his recovery, the siblings sat down around Christmas time to paint together. They found themselves lost.
Still, on the other side of big emotions was a life-changing lesson: The power of touch.
After 20 years of being a visual artist, Wells knew she had to change to create a path to the arts for people of all abilities.
“The conversations around inclusion, disability awareness at least through my research through history – those conversations move slow and progress seems to move just as slow with that,” Wells said. “I just feel like that’s not really appropriate.”
Wells is now a fellow at the Harkin Institute. She’s been working on 3D art for years. She recently traveled to Vienna to speak on a panel with the United Nations, partnering with other artists in Belgrade with decades of experience, using technology to make art accessible to everyone.
Wells said she and the other artists hope “to be respectful and the feedback helps me understand how we can do better and be more universally inclusive."
About 54,000 Iowans have experienced vision loss, according to the Iowa Department for the Blind.
The bigger goal of wells’ 3D art is to heighten disability awareness, and reshape the Iowa mural landscape with braille explaining scenery.
“If you happen upon that, then you get to have that experience without someone else giving you the experience verbally or telling you what’s happening," Wells said.
It's an empowering effort for Bettina that goes beyond art.
“I was born blind. I’ve been blind all my life, and there were some things that I know growing up it was just kind of an understood, ‘That’s not for you. You can’t go to the art gallery and really experience it like everybody else,'" she said. "And so sometimes, I had it just in my mind that you know, there’s things that I just can’t do and I need to learn to accept that. But then there was also a point in my life where I said, ‘Why! Why do I need to accept that and why can’t things be different?’”
Bettina and Cody say Wells' intention and awareness shows the power of partnership and creativity.
“Meeting people like Jill, making an impact and making art, available to everybody, is actually saying she’s agreeing with me," Bettina said. "No, [art] shouldn’t be for a type of person. It should be for everybody. So that makes me pretty excited for the future and to see how far this can go."
“I think it makes me feel vindicated," Cody added. "There are a lot of situations in which blind people have been barred. We as blind people are just as worthy of attention and care and concern as anybody else is. There is no one with or without a disability that should not be taken into account when viewing art.”
Wells plans to continue spreading inclusivity with more murals to come.
“I want to see them outdoors,” she said. “I want to see them throughout the state of Iowa paired with other murals. It would be like one in every state. I would love that! More than one in every state.”
The official unveiling of the tactile mural is Nov. 13. Wells commissioned the mural herself, costing $2,000. For more information on the mural, click here.