Readers may know Maya Lin as the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D. C., a powerful statement honoring the over 58,000 American servicemen and women who lost their lives in the Vietnam War. Lin thought long and hard about how to capture the names of veterans in a manner that visitors could really respond and remember those who served. The polished black granite surface rising as a low wall from the ground invites people to touch the etched names and pause as they see themselves reflected in the memorial.
Maya Lin was still a college student in 1981 when she created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. From the start, she did not want to be considered a builder only of memorials. While she has produced numerous highly original and effective ones (such as the Civil Rights Memorial for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, and the Langston Hughes Library and Riggio-Lynch Chapel for the Children’s Defense Fund in Clinton, Tennessee), Lin’s creative spirit drove her to envision and execute many projects, among them the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City, Storm King Wavefield in Mountainville, New York, and What Is Missing?, a project spanning years and multiple locations, highlighting losses to our biodiversity and natural habitats. All Maya Lin’s designs convey her sense of the relationship among materials, heritage and landscape as they create and connect spaces.
In Maya Lin: Thinking with Her Hands, author Susan Goldman Rubin describes Maya Lin’s life events, thought processes and projects beautifully. Rubin weaves together documentary photos with key quotes from Lin, grounding them in clear, engaging text. How did a shy child of immigrant parents come into public life as a notable designer? Why was touching clay and water and granite and wood and earth—and using them in elemental ways—so important to Lin? Lin said: “Each project allows me to learn about a new subject” and readers will make the journey alongside her as she allows the natural environment, and human engagement with it, to drive her artistic expressions. Ages 10-14. Chronicle Books, 2017.
Maya Lin was still a college student in 1981 when she created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. From the start, she did not want to be considered a builder only of memorials. While she has produced numerous highly original and effective ones (such as the Civil Rights Memorial for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, and the Langston Hughes Library and Riggio-Lynch Chapel for the Children’s Defense Fund in Clinton, Tennessee), Lin’s creative spirit drove her to envision and execute many projects, among them the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City, Storm King Wavefield in Mountainville, New York, and What Is Missing?, a project spanning years and multiple locations, highlighting losses to our biodiversity and natural habitats. All Maya Lin’s designs convey her sense of the relationship among materials, heritage and landscape as they create and connect spaces.
The picture book biography Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines, written by Jeanne Walker Harvey and illustrated by Dow Phuminuk, provides inspiring perspectives on designer Maya Lin for younger readers. Ages 4-8. Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2017.
Especially for families—an interesting blog post from the Library of Congress:
https://blogs.loc.gov/families/2021/07/history-in-our-backyards-monuments-and-memorials/?loclr=eafam
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