The late Jake Wells always had a passion for the outdoors. The things he could find outside of walls and outside himself were always the focus of his life and artistic work.

But he hated to travel.

So in 1977, the then Southeast Missouri State University art department chairman sent his son Bert, Bert's wife and another couple to do his dirty work for him. Their task was to take pictures of several mills across Missouri so Wells could study them and decide which ones to paint for an entire study on Missouri mills.

A portrait on display of Jake Wells at the Southeast Missouri State University Museum.

"He gave us a list and the best description he could of the locations," Bert Wells recalled. "We made a three-week tour around the state. At some of the locations there wasn't much left."

Wells didn't care how dilapidated a mill was. If something jumped out at him, he painted it in watercolor anyway. He originally planned to paint seven mills, inspired somewhat by Southeast history professor Dr. George Suggs' own study of mills. He ended up painting 27.

Starting Friday, 24 of those mills will be on display at the Southeast Missouri Regional Museum, along with the work he may be best known for in the area -- his Kent Library mural.

The collection of work has been in the possession of the museum for years, but hasn't been shown since around the time of Wells' death in 1999, said museum curator of collections Jim Phillips.

The Kent Library mural

Phillips said there are several reasons for bringing Mills' work out of the closet:

* he's an artist of great local interest to which the community has always responded well

* The watercolors and mural studies make for a great summer show, with bright colors and outdoor subject matter.

But the collection also tells a story. The mural includes images that detail the development of the area, from European settlement to draining of the swamps to the role of the river in building settlement. A mock-up of the mural panels and several line and color studies will be on display.

Mills are also an important part of local history, with great importance to the economies of settlements in the area.

"This allows you to see how the area has changed," said Phillips. "It tells a historical story of how Missouri was so prevalent in the mill industries, and it tells a nice story about the entire southeast region."

Wells' interest in murals started as a child, and he made studies of mills throughout his life. But in the summer of 1977 his interest grew. He created these watercolors along with several line studies of the internal workings of the mills.

Some of the mills are in a state of decay, with wooden frames showing through places where walls have deteriorated. Some, like Bollinger Mill, are in near mint condition. Now that 30 years have passed, some of the mills may no longer be standing.

"He was always able to capture the local scene, whether it be mills or farms, and show them as they were," said former colleague and friend Bill Needle. "He took as much joy in painting mills that were falling apart as those that weren't ... just to show them as they were, to preserve them as he painted them."

Needle said Wells was a great landscape artist. People enjoyed his paintings largely because they knew Wells was on the scene when he captured his images.

Wells always loved the outdoors, which probably explains his affinity for landscapes. His grandson, an artist also named Jake, remembers his grandfather taking him on many outings as a child.

Jake also remembers being inspired by seeing all his grandfather's artwork at his own childhood home and on visits to see the elder Jake.

Next month he'll have his own solo show hanging in another gallery, at the same time his grandfather's work is on display at the museum.

But the family usually wasn't around when the elder Jake was painting. He liked to concentrate on his work, and the family often wouldn't see it until finished. The immense detail in the mill watercolors show the extent of that concentration.

"He was always kind of the hermit type," said Bert. "He liked to have his quiet time."

As Phillips said, Wells has become a well-known artist in the community, a process that started long before his death. Always humble, he probably wouldn't have thought much of the attention his work garners.

He just loved to paint nature, man's manipulation of it, and the sometimes nature reclaiming what was once its own. Some of the mills he painted have also been reclaimed by nature, as has Wells' body. His art hasn't.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

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Want to go?

WHAT: "Jake Wells: Mills and Murals" exhibit

WHEN: Friday (May 19) through July 23

WHERE: Southeast Missouri Regional Museum

COST: Free

INFO: 651-2260

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Wells biography

Jake Wells died in 1999 at the age of 81, after 34 years of teaching art at the high school and university level.

Wells taught for 14 years at Jackson before joining the Southeast art faculty in 1960, where he served as chair of the department from 1972 to 1976. He retired in 1980.

His best known works are the "Missouri Mills" collection and his Kent Library mural -- the subjects of the exhibition opening Friday -- and a bicentennial mural completed in 1992 at 405 Broadway. However Wells was a prolific painter, and his work can be found in homes and other places throughout the area.