Shantell Martin is a public speaker, curator, philosopher, cultural facilitator, teacher, choreographer, songwriter, performer, and more. From fashion and celebrity collaborations to positions at MIT Media Lab, NYU Tisch ITP, Columbia University’s Brown Institute, and choreographing a ballet at the Boston Ballet, Shantell’s drawn LINE constantly evolves. Creating new connections between fine art, education, design, philosophy, and technology, Shantell explores themes such as intersectionality, identity, and play.
In addition to prestigious solo shows at some of the most renowned art institutions including the 92Y Gallery in New York City, the iconic Albright Knox Gallery, and the New Britain Museum of Contemporary Arts, Shantell has carved a path for herself that is as much intellectual as a producer and visual artist. At the Brown Institute for Media Innovation, she created a large-scale wall installation and worked with the Institute’s research group to explore how visual and computerized storytelling might influence media and technology innovation. At the NYU Tisch ITP (Interactive Telecommunications Program), she works with her students to push the boundaries of storytelling, visual art, and technology.
A fashion and design icon in her own right, Shantell collaborated with iconic brands such as Vitra, Max Mara, Tiffany & Co, B&B Italia, and in 2021 The North Face launched a global capsule collection featuring her drawings inspired by pieces from their Search & Rescue archive. Shantell also collaborated with legendary artists such as Pulitzer Prize-winning performance artist Kendrick Lamar and acclaimed designer Kelly Wearstler. In 2019, she created large-scale drawings in the performance hall and foyer of the Lincoln Center for the company’s celebrated Art Series in collaboration with the prestigious New York City Ballet.
Some notable awards Shantell received are the 92Y, Extraordinary Women Award (2019), Shorty Award - Best in Art (2019), MoCADA Museum - Artist Advocacy Award (2017), and the Intel Women Who Spark Award - Women in Technology (2015, Awarded by People Magazine, People en Español, and ESSENCE Magazine, in partnership with Intel Corp).
Some of her recent solo exhibits include The Future, Subliminal Projects, LA (2022), Design District, Side by Side, Joint Gallery Show, London (2021), New Britain Museum of American Art, CT (2020), hpgrp Gallery, Tokyo Wave, Band Of Vices Gallery, LA (2020), The May Room, Governors Island, NY (2019), Lines and Words, Denver Art Museum, CO (2019), and Find Your Way, Lincoln Center, New York City, Ballet, NY (2019).
Shantell has also made numerous media appearances from live performances on the Main Stage at Adobe Max, a TED Talk to performing with Kendrick Lamar at Art Basel, Miami.
As she increasingly incorporates meditative intuition into her artistic practice, Shantell hopes to teach others how to find their own LINES to inevitably find their own PATH. Her distinctive style is one of confidence. It is a confidence that has grown over time. People could look at her lines and say, "Well, I can do that" and she would reply, "Yes, you can." Knowing the many benefits of creativity on mental health and personal growth and how those benefits radiate out into all spheres of one's life and the World. Shantell has made a line distinctively hers. Now, Shantell uses her art practice not just as a passive way to create objects to admire but as an active way to teach others how to create a line that is recognizably their own.
For more details on all her awards and accolades, click here for her formal CV.
The relationship between an artist and collector should be just that... a relationship.
If you are interested in purchasing original artworks please check out the shop and if you are interested in commissioning original artwork, she would like to get to know YOU a little better through a series of questions that will ensure the work she creates goes to great people that will love and value it. Please feel free to email sales@shantellmartin.com for any other shop-related questions.
Credits
Branding & Design by Anton & Irene with love
Shantell Sans
2023
As a self-proclaimed “proud dyslexic,” Shantell has always had an interesting relationship with fonts and typography. She explains, “I always wanted to reclaim that space due to my dyslexia, and defeat my past challenges. The creation of my font was an innate process and an extension of my artwork, and something I always wanted to do”. Martin always writes in all caps so that her handwriting is more readable and describes her writing style as “bold, playful, clear to read, and, in a way, feels very much like my drawings.”
Two years ago Shantell decided to finally look into how to create her font, which led her to commission designers Arrow Type, and Anya Danilova to bring the idea of Shantell Sans to life; Shantell Sans is a marker-style font built for creative expression, typographic play, and animation. It includes Latin and Cyrillic characters to support a wide array of languages throughout the Americas, Europe, Central Asia, and Vietnam.
The font can be adjusted by weight, spacing, informality, bounce, and italics. Arrow Type’s Stephen Nixon says, “Shantell’s handwriting was already right there in her work, and perfectly suited as a starting point for a really interesting typeface!” Nixon describes Shantell Sans as “fun, welcoming, energetic, approachable, and creative" and says, “I love that Shantell was excited about the idea of making this font available to everyone.” “I think fonts can really change the mood of a person in the way that they can be dense and limiting, or, on another hand, open and playful. I think we do pick up on these subtle messages on a subconscious level. I wanted to share my work in a new exciting medium accessible to anyone,” Shantell further elaborates.
To learn more about the making of Shantell Sans, check out its website at: shantellsans.com, and to download the font, visit github.com/arrowtype/shantell-sans. Shantell Sans is now available (with over 4 million downloads!) on Google Fonts (for Google Docs).
