On Thursday, September 17, Shantell Martin celebrated the opening-night preview of Past, Present, Future, a new solo museum exhibition at Grounds For Sculpture in New Jersey.

Over 200 guests gathered for the evening, which included a live performance from Martin’s ongoing Present Word series. Working spontaneously, Shantell invited the audience to offer words that became part of the performance, creating a work shaped collectively and in the moment through language, drawing, sound, and participation.

The evening also marked the unveiling of BENN (Be Enough Nurture Nature), a new large-scale sculpture that will live outdoors at Grounds For Sculpture for the next two years.

Part tree, part bird, and part something else entirely, BENN is a quiet seed planter. His purpose is to plant seeds of imagination in unexpected places. The seeds are not only physical; BENN plants ideas, possibility, and hope, giving them time and space to take root.

Although BENN is new as a sculpture, the character is more than two decades old. Shantell first drew him while living and working in Japan during the early years of her career. The original drawing contains many of the details that remain with him today: wings that give him freedom and mobility, a small bear tucked into his utility box representing play and connection to the inner child, a pineapple necklace for welcome and good luck, and even shorts inspired by a pair of Evisu jeans Shantell bought decades ago and still owns today.

BENN’s journey from drawing to sculpture also carries a particularly fitting full-circle story. During Shantell’s years in Japan, she met visual artist and VJ Ben Sheppee, who became a friend, mentor, and longtime collaborator and later released Shantell’s first and only DVD, Koobs, through his label. More than 20 years later, Ben translated Shantell’s original two-dimensional character into the three-dimensional digital model that became the foundation for the sculpture. In recognition of that history, and the way the collaboration connects different moments across her life and practice, Shantell named the character BENN, giving Ben’s name a small visual twist and a new meaning: Be Enough Nurture Nature.