Maya Lin
Maya Lin
Maya Ying Linis an American designer and artist who is known for her work in sculpture and land art. She first came to fame at the age of 21 as the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionArchitect
Date of Birth5 October 1959
CountryUnited States of America
way architecture built
For the most part things never get built the way they were drawn.
landscape saying translate
You just want to translate what you see. I keep saying I am no different from a 19th-century landscape artist.
individual list national reaching time war
It was a requirement by the veterans to list the 57,000 names. We're reaching a time that we'll acknowledge the individual in a war on a national level.
art character years
I probably spent the first 20 years of my life wanting to be as American as possible. Through my 20s, and into my 30s, I began to become aware of how so much of my art and architecture has a decidedly Eastern character.
chinese letters littles
When I was very little, we would get letters from China, in Chinese, and they' be censored. We were a very insular little family.
bad-ass architecture fantastic
Architecture is like a mythical fantastic. It has to be experienced. It can't be described. We can draw it up and we can make models of it, but it can only be experienced as a complete whole.
art dad school
My dad was dean of fine arts at the university. I was casting bronzes in the school foundry. I was using the university as a playground.
math puzzles
Math, it's a puzzle to me. I love figuring out puzzles.
artist architecture function
You really can't function as a celebrity. Entertainers are celebrities. I'm an architect. I'm an artist. I make things.
growing-up white littles
Growing up, I thought I was white. It didn't occur to me I was Asian-American until I was studying abroad in Denmark and there was a little bit of prejudice.
war artist memorial
I deliberately did not read anything about the Vietnam War because I felt the politics of the war eclipsed what happened to the veterans. The politics were irrelevant to what this memorial was.
writing giving trying
I begin by imagining an artwork verbally. I try to describe in writing what the project is, what it is trying to do. I need to understand the artwork without giving it a specific materiality or solid form.
war names levels
It was a requirement by the veterans to list the 57,000 names. We're reaching a time that we'll acknowledge the individual in a war on a national level.
remember accuracy ifs
If you don't remember history accurately, how can you learn?