Grounds for Sculpture – New Instillation Invites Viewers to Contemplate the Multifaceted Nature of Time

Sep 23, 2026 by The Jewish Voice And Opinion Staff

By The Jewish Voice And Opinion Staff

Grounds for Sculpture’s (GFS) new exhibition explores the fleeting nature of time through murals and the addition of newly commissioned sculptures in “Shantell Martin: Past, Present, Future,” on view Sept. 20, 2026 – July 23, 2028. This immersive installation features new work indoors and sculptures in the park’s gardens.

Past, Present, Future encourages reflection on how the past shapes our present, how the present informs our future, and how we navigate the continuous and often elusive currents of time that define our existence. Martin invites viewers to contemplate the multifaceted nature of time and our relationship with it.

Shantell Martin

Meet Shantell Martin

Martin is known for her impactful and visually captivating work that often involves performance, philosophy, and linework. Self-exploration and continuous curiosity are key to her practice. She invites viewers to join in a creative process that is as much about kindness as the act of creating. “Shantell Martin’s works explore the meditative nature of artmaking with collaboration and playfulness,” shared Kathleen Ogilvie Greene, chief audience officer at GFS and the exhibition’s curator. “This balance between curiosity, partnership, and joy reignites the way GFS engages with many communities. The synergy is an exciting, authentic way to ground this exhibition within the GFS campus.”

By uniting artmaking with self-care and bringing art into the gardens, the exhibition underscores GFS’s pillars of art, nature, and wellness. In the park’s West Gallery, view murals created onsite using a stream of consciousness process, along with the presentation of a new suite of work called the “Reply Card Project.” The “Reply Card Project” documents two years of Martin’s daily drawing practice. It centers on the idea that a little bit of anything, consistently, can have a large impact.

While in the gallery, visitors will hear the audio and see a selection of drawings from the “Reply Card Project,” bringing both visual and audio markers from the past into the exhibition space. These meditative moments capture her visual marks alongside the sounds of mark-making, breaths, sighs, and utterances, along with narration and environmental atmosphere.

Outdoors, stands BENN, her largest sculpture, created through a collaboration with Johnson Atelier. (Johnson Atelier, which joined GFS last year, is an on-site high-tech art fabricator and restorer that often functions as an extension of the artist’s studio.)

BENN with Shantell Martin

Meet BENN

BENN is a seed planter, part tree, part bird, part creature. He’s a shy figure, working quietly in the background. His purpose is to plant seeds in places where seeds don’t typically grow, in the city, in concrete, and tucked into cracks in structures never meant to hold life. The seeds aren’t only physical. BENN also plants ideas in places where ideas can take root and grow.

Wings give BENN flight and mobility, a way to travel and clear whatever’s in his path without relying on anyone else to get anywhere. Notice that BENN looks over to the side and up. He may be checking in on some recent work and wants those seeds to stay hidden, to give them time to grow. He’s keeping an eye out as he plants. Not everyone wants new things or new ideas growing in certain places, so his work is a little undercover.

BENN has a bear in his side utility box. A recurring character in Martin’s work, usually tucked in a pocket. The bear symbolizes play, softness, and a connection to our inner child, a compass for doing things the right way, for the right reasons. At our youngest, we’re at our sharpest and most creative, not yet directed by anyone else, still able to listen clearly to our own heart. The pineapple necklace is worn for good luck, a symbol of hospitality and welcome. (Martin used to wear the same pineapple necklace a lifetime ago.) The sweater helps BENN blend into the forest. Underneath, he’s a bit of a fashionista, wearing cool shorts.

Visit Grounds for Sculpture to experience the ‘Shantell Martin: Past, Present, Future’ installation, wander around the permanent installations, and enjoy the serenity and splendor of the grounds.

“Shantell Martin: Past, Present, Future” is made possible by generous exhibition support from Katie Adams and Tony Schaeffer, Lauren and Scott Eder, and Julie and Michael Nachamkin. Additional support is provided by the Brooke Barrie Art Fund and Marjorie Ogilvie. Support is provided in part by The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a division of the New Jersey Department of State, and a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Atlantic Foundation.

Grounds For Sculpture (GFS) is a 42-acre not-for-profit sculpture park, arboretum, and museum, founded by the late Seward Johnson. Featuring over 300 contemporary sculptures by renowned and emerging artists in an ever-changing landscape, GFS combines art and nature to surprise, inspire, and engage visitors from all backgrounds in the artist’s act of invention.

Located in Hamilton, New Jersey, GFS is easily accessible from the New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas by public transit and is open year-round.