If you would have told young Della Wells she’d be an artist, she would have laughed. The native Milwaukeean has always been creatively inclined, but she didn’t feel like she had something important to say with her art until relatively recently. “I’ve been interested in storytelling since I was young, but I didn’t find my artist’s voice until much later,” says Wells.

As a young adult, Wells volunteered at the Gallery Toward the Black Aesthetics in Bronzeville, where she mingled with young, local artists and became familiar with Black artwork. But it wasn’t until her 40s that she seriously considered art as a career path. Attending MATC to prepare for a psychology degree, Wells interviewed local Black artist Evelyn Patricia Terry for an art survey course. Terry encouraged Wells to pursue art, but it took two years of prodding. “She told me I was an artist, but in my head, I thought she was out of her mind,” says Wells. At age 42, Wells took a class on African religion, and she was inspired to create meaningful art of her own – collages, paintings and drawings that celebrate the Black female identity.

With her art, Wells created a world she calls Mamboland, a place where “Black women rule and are the masters of their own destiny.” Her work looks playful, but it addresses powerful topics like sexism and racism – and it delves into Wells’ memories of living through the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War and the more recent tumultuous political landscape. It’s now been 30 years since she took the leap, and Wells has carved out a name for herself. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, the Milwaukee Art Museum has added her Together to its permanent collection, and Andrew Edlin Gallery’s major solo exhibition of her work next spring in New York will be her largest yet. Wells is proud of her accomplishments, but what’s more important to her is the way her work affects people, and culture at large. “I’ve lived through a lot, and history is always repeating itself,” says Wells. “I want my work to help people think critically about culture and talk to one another about their stories.”

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