Maya Lin

From Free net encyclopedia

Maya Ying Lin (Template:Zh-cp; born October 5, 1959) is a Chinese American artist and architect. Her best known work is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

She was born in Athens, Ohio and studied at Yale. At age 21, while still an undergraduate, she won a public design competition for the Vietnam memorial. The cut stone masonry "Wall" officially opened to the public on November 11, 1982. The wall was granite and V-shaped, with one side pointing to the Lincoln Memorial and the other to the Washington Monument.

Lín, who now owns and operates Maya Lin Studios in New York, New York, went on to design other structures, including the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama (1989). She was also on the committee that selected the 9/11 memorial to be constructed at Ground Zero in New York.

She is 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 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.

She is married to Daniel Wolf, and they have two young children.

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