Maya Lin Biography

Maya Lin was born on October 5, 1959 in Athens, Ohio. Her parents fled from China in 1948 when the Communist took over. She is the daughter of Henry Huan Lin and Julia Chang Lin. Her father was a ceramicist and the Dean of the School of Fine Art. Her mother was a poet and a literature professor at Ohio University. Lin says that she was in her father’s studio “making art as long as she can remember.” (Falconer “Maya Lin Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works”). When Lin started Yale her major was zoology, but she changed it architecture, that was because, while growing up, she liked nature, the natural world, and science, so she wanted to be a veterinarian or an animal behaviorist. Even though not many people know who Maya Lin is, she is an important
She is important because she has designed several of the significant works of art for the public in the late 20th century (Ross “Presidential Lectures: Maya Lin”). Her works of art have touched many people in modern art and architecture in a way that has never been done before. Lin creates her work for the people, for society. Her parks, monuments, sculptures, and architectural works are connected by her ideal of creating a place for people in the country (Davis “Maya Lin/ Art21”). In an interview Lin said “I try to give people a different way of looking at their surroundings. That’s art to me” (Murray, Quotabelle).
There are not a lot of people who know who Maya Lin is, one because she is originally from China, well she was born in the United States. She was so young when she first started her art career. Lin’s name is not very known in the world. Simply because people did not want her to design the new Vietnam Veterans Memorial, because she is of Asian descent. Therefore her name was not mentioned for designing the memorial (Esten “Maya Lin
First of all she is responsible for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. When Lin was about 21 years old, she entered a competition that was being held to find someone to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that was going to be made for Washington D.C. and out of 1,400 other entries her design had won (Falconer “Maya Lin Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works”). On Veteran’s Day, November 11, 1982, the memorial was dedicated and opened to the public (Ross “Presidential Lectures: Maya Lin”), but unfortunately Lin’s name was not mentioned. She has designed/ helped design many other memorials, architectural works, etc. Lin was part of the team that chose the design for the World Trade Center Site Memorial (Esten “Maya Lin Biography”). Some of her different works have redefined the concept of a monument, confronting the serious political and social issues of our time, such as war, racism, and gender equality. Some of those works are the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington D.C. 1982, the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, AL 1989, and The Women’s Table at Yale University, New Haven, CT 1993 (O’Neill, PBS: “Maya