Benjamin Victor (sculptor)

[3][7] Victor’s first work to receive attention was a life-size statue of the biblical character Samson, sculpted when the artist was a sophomore art major at Northern State University.

Victor has completed numerous commissions from city, institutions and non-profits for public artworks throughout the West and upper Midwest, often to commemorate individuals or groups.

In 2016, Judi M. gaiashkibos, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, contacted Victor about creating a statue of Standing Bear (Ponca) for the Centennial Mall at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

[9] When gaiashkibos learned of a plan replace the two statues allotted for Nebraska in the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D. C., she contacted Victor again to make another sculpture of Standing Bear.

[10] Using the surplus funds from those raised to erect the Standing Bear statues, gaiashkibos hired Victor in 2021 to sculpt Susan La Flesche Picotte (Omaha), the first Native woman to be licensed as a physician in the US for the Centennial Mall at the university.