On the same day that we did this interview, Ben Hammond watched as his newest contribution to the renovated Temple Square, a statue of the restoration of the ceiling keys was placed.

Speaking of its placement, Hammond said, once they moved all the construction equipment out of the way from installing it and we took the plastic off of it. I got a little

emotional there. It was a good feeling. On his website, Ben Hammond himself says that some of his

deepest feelings have a hard time being articulated through words so he creates art. But I think

that you'll feel in our conversation today that Ben Hammond's testimony

shared both through his words and his art is contagious. Ben was born in 1977. He was raised

in the rural town of Pingree, Idaho, where his love for art was nurtured from the time he was a

small boy. He studied art at Rick's College

graduating with a degree in illustration. Ben is a talented portrait artist and since 2007 has

completed more than 50 portrait bust for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His works have found

permanent homes in collections both public and private throughout the United States.

He is currently working on four multi-figure monumental compositions for Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah.

This is All In, an LDS Living podcast where we ask the question, what does it really mean to be all in the gospel of Jesus Christ?

I'm Morgan Pearson, and I am so honored to have Ben Hammond on the line with me today. Ben, welcome.

Thanks for handing me. It's an honor to be here.

Well, I always enjoy Ben the prep of this podcast.

That may be like a weird thing about me.

I love having a good excuse to dive deep into somebody's life.

But I loved, like really loved prepping for this episode.

And I just think you are a fascinating person.

So I want to start in a little bit of a unique place

for this interview. One thing that I noticed in watching and listening to some things that

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