Shantell Martin: Past, Present, Future opens today in New Jersey — murals, daily meditation and the artist’s first sculptures

Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey opens today, September 20, 2026, the exhibition “Shantell Martin: Past, Present, Future” — an immersive, site-specific installation on view through July 23, 2028. The exhibition explores the elusive nature of time through large-scale murals, daily meditative drawing practices and sculptures commissioned especially for the park’s spaces.

Shantell Martin (MBE, born in Thamesmead, London in 1980) is known worldwide for her large-scale freehand black-and-white drawings, often performed live before an audience. During her career she has collaborated with prestigious brands such as Tiffany & Co. and Nike, and has performed at concerts, festivals and installations around the world.

In the park’s West Gallery there will be murals created on site with her “stream of consciousness” process, as well as the new suite of works “Reply Card Project” — two years of daily drawing practice. Visitors will also hear audio of the drawing markings (breathing, voices, narration) alongside a selection of drawings. Outdoors, in the park’s gardens, her work moves from the page into space with her largest sculptures to date, created in collaboration with Johnson Atelier, the high-tech art foundry on campus.

Martin will also work with the Princeton Sankofa Stitchers Modern Quilt Guild — a group of African-American women honoring the tradition of quilting — to create four large quilts with the local community (work from September 2026 to February 2027, with a public celebration in April 2027). Visitors are invited to take part: three paper towers in the gallery for their own creations and words painted on the park’s paths for reflection during their walk.

The exhibition, curated by Kathleen Ogilvie Greene, brings together the pillars of Grounds For Sculpture: art, nature and well-being. The opening ceremony was held on Thursday, September 17, where Martin performed live; she will also lead a well-being evening in 2027. Grounds For Sculpture is located at 80 Sculptors Way, Hamilton, NJ.

Source: BroadwayWorld