Maya Lin

Groundswell, at Ohio State University, 1993

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, at Washington, D.C., 1982.  * 3D Model *

The Wave Field, at the University of Michigan, 1995

      map of works

(b. Athens, Ohio Oct. 10, 1959)

A contemporary Chinese-American woman architectural artist, who at age 21 designed the originally controversial but now much admired Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

"I saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial not as an object placed into the earth but as a cut in the earth that has then been polished, like a geode. Interest in the land and concern about how we are polluting the air and water of the planet are what make me want to travel back in geologic time-to witness the shaping of the earth before man."

— Maya Lin, quoted in Smithsonian Magazine, August 1996

"The Vietnam memorial is a place where something happens within the viewer. It's like reading a book. I purposely had the names etched ragged right on each panel to look like a page from a book," Lin said.

"I also wanted remembering the past relevant to the present. Some people wanted me to put the names in alphabetical order. I wanted them in chronological order so that a veteran could find his time within the panel. It's like a thread of life."

— Maya Lin, quoted in the UC Berkeley Berkeleyan, March 15, 1995

education: BA, Architecture, Yale College, 1981.
Master's of Architecture from Yale, 1986.
Honorary doctorates from Yale, Williams and Smith.

Maya Lin. Maya Lin : Public/Private. Distributed Art Publishers, October 1994. ISBN 1-8813-9005-5.   Available at Amazon.com

Maya Lin : A Strong Clear Vision. Freida Lee Mock, director. VHS Tape. TAPEWORM VIDEO, March 1997. ISBN 6-3043-5473-8. — A powerful video documenting the creation of the Vietnam War Memorial.
According to their web site, the PBS POV documentary "Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision", directed by Freida Lee Mock, originally broadcast June 1, 1996, is available on video, distributed by: Ocean Releasing, 1333 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90401, Phone: (310) 459-2116, Fax: (310) 394-1260.
Ref: http://www.pbs.org/cgi-bin/pov/search/search.cgi?keyword=maya+lin

  Find books about Maya Lin

Search the RIBA architecture library catalog for more references on Maya Lin
 

Maya Lin Online Resources — by Sarah Whitworth at NYU. * SITE MISSING - 1999.0715, 1999.0905 *

Maya Lin -- Monumental Artist — Women's Wire Profile

Maya Lin, Memorial Designer — Southern Poverty Law Center

Groundswell — Landscape sculpture at the Wexner Center for the Arts

Interview with Maya Lin — Natural Resources Defense Council

The Wave Field — Landscape sculpture at the University of Michigan College of Engineering

Maya Lin at Archiplanet — Find, add, and edit info at the all-buildings collaboration

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