Maya Ying Lin (; born October 5, 1959) is an American artist who has become known for her work in sculpture and landscape art. Her best-known work is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Early life

Lin was born in Athens, Ohio, daughter of Henry Huan Lin, a ceramist and former Dean of the Ohio University College of Fine Arts, and Julia Chang Lin, formerly Professor of Literature at Ohio University.^[1] She is the niece of Lin Huiyin, who is said to be the first female architect in China.

She studied at Yale University (1986). In 1987, Yale conferred upon Lin an honorary Doctorate Degree in Fine Arts. She is married to Daniel Wolf, a New York photography dealer. They have two daughters: Rachel Wolf and India Wolf.^[2][3]

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Original competition submission for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Visitors at Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Work after the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Lin, who now owns and operates Maya Lin Studio in New York City, went on to design other structures, including the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama (1989) and the Wave Field at the University of Michigan (1995).^[6]

In 1994, she was the subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision. The title comes from an address she gave at Yale where she speaks of the monument design process.

In 2000, Lin re-emerged in public life with a book Boundaries.^[7] Also in 2000, she agreed to act as the artist and architect for the Confluence Project, a series of outdoor installations at historical points along the Columbia River and Snake River in the state of Washington. This is the largest and longest project that she has undertaken so far.^[8]

In 2002, Lin was elected Alumni Fellow of the Yale Corporation, the governing body of Yale University (Upon whose campus sits another of Lin's designs: the Women's Table - designed to commemorate the role of women at Yale University.), in an unusually public contest. Her opponent was W. David Lee, a local New Haven minister and graduate of the Yale Divinity School who was running on a platform to build ties to the community with the support of Yale's unionized employees. Lin was supported by Yale's President Richard Levin, other members of the Yale Corporation, and was the officially endorsed candidate of the Association of Yale Alumni.

In 2003, Lin served on the selection jury of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition. Some have attributed the trend toward minimalism and abstraction among the entrants, finalists, and current World Trade Center Memorial to Lin's presence on the jury.

In 2005, Lin was elected to The American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

Lin was commissioned by Ohio University to design what is known as punch card park, a landscape literally designed to resemble a punch card, supposedly based on Lin's memories of their early use in universities. The park is a large open space with rectangular mounds and voids on the ground. At first the park was criticized for being relatively uninviting (with punchcard pits promoting mosquito infestation and preventing safe active recreation) and lacked trees or structures to shade students from the sun. In addition, from the ground level, it is difficult to tell what the park is supposed to look like, though from an aerial view it does resemble a punch card. Although the university since planted trees around the park's perimeter in an attempt to make it a more popular place for students to gather, this has been unsuccessful.^[9][10]

Bibliography

• Maya Lin: Topologies (Artist and the community) (1998) ISBN 1888826053
• Maya Lin: [American Academy in Rome, 10 dicembre 1998-21 febbraio 1999] (1998) ISBN 8843568329
• Timetable: Maya Lin (2000) ASIN B000PT331Y (2002, ISBN 0937031194)
• Boundaries (2000) ISBN 0684834170 (2006, ISBN 0743299590)

References

External links

• Biography, interviews, essays, artwork images and video clips from PBS series Art:21 -- Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 1 (2001).
• Peace Chapel at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA
• Maya Lin's Earth Day Message of Hope on Earth Day 2006 at The Nature Conservancy
• Confluence Project located at sites in both Washington and Oregon
• Thompson Gale Publishers, Review of her work.
• Maya Lin's public artwork at Penn Station, commissioned by MTA Arts for Transit.

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