During the month of August, Salado Museum will host an exhibition of Tim and Marilyn Fleischer’s collection of pencil drawings, pen and ink drawings and watercolors by Ronnie Wells.
The exhibition entitled Salado: A Jewel in the Crown of Texas takes its name from the magazine that the Salado Village Voice has published for more than 30 years. The art was used for the covers of the early Salado: A Jewel in the Crown of Texxas magazines.
There will be an Opening Reception for the exhibit at 5 p.m. Aug. 1 with Ronnie and Patricia Wells, along with Tim and Marilyn Fleischer, who commissioned the artworks.

The exhibit will also feature some sculptures from private collector Jeff Love, of Georgetown.
The first building that Ronnie did was a pencil drawing of the Salado United Methodist Church chapel. At the time, it still sat at the corner of Thomas Arnold and Church St. Next came pencil drawings of the Stagecoach Inn, the Robertson Plantation and Twelve Oaks. Then a pen and ink drawing of the Salado College ruins.
The magazine then began to print in color, so Ronnie painted watercolors of several more historic houses, including the Norton-Orgain House, the Armstrong-Adams House, the Vickrey house, the Tyler Mansion, the Anderson Place and old saloon, the Fowler House, the Halley House, the Rose Mansion, the Vickrey-Berry House, the Baines House, the Tenney House, Summer’s Mill and the White-Aiken House.
The Fleischers lived in the Tenney House and had the newspaper office in the upstairs rooms of it when Royce Wiggin was born.
Ronnie and Patricia Wells came to Salado and opened their gallery in what was “the old Post Office” on South Main St., across from the Salado College ruins.
They became friends with the late Lucile Robertson, who founded Central Texas Area Museum (now known as Salado Museum). Ronnie served several years on the Museum board and served as Vice President of the on the Robertson Colony-Salado College Foundation board of directors.
Wells Gallery is now located at the corner of Main St. and Blacksmith Rd. Sitting directly across the street is the life-size bronze of August McCrae that Wells sculpted for John and Dottie Barclay. Wells has become an internationally known sculptor and painter.
Wells has won numerous awards and exhibited his work in museums and fine art shows across the nation. He is also a published author. He has written several published articles, as well as a children’s book, The Legend of Catfish & Little Bream (1997), published by Acadian House Publishing in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Calvin and the Great Tensas River Bottom.
He was the 2024 Featured Artist at the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland. In 2007, he was named the Texas Ducks Unlimited Artist of the Year. In 2002, his bronze sculpture Green-Winged Flurry was installed at the national headquarters of Ducks Unlimited. In 2001, his seven-foot bronze of Mallard Ducks was installed at the national headquarters of Ducks Unlimited.
The Salado Museum exhibition is free.