First woman to design the memorial on the National Mall
OVERVIEW
Maya Ying Lin (born October 5, 1959) is an American designer and artist who is known for her work in sculpture and land art. She achieved national recognition at the age of 21 while still an undergraduate at Yale University when her design was chosen in a national competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. It is considered one of the most influential memorials of the post-World War II period.
Lin has completed designs for other memorials, as well as for numerous public and private buildings, landscape design, and sculpture. Although Lin’s most well known sculptures and architectural work are historical memorials, she also works to memorialize nature through her environmentally themed works. In creating works which deal with the depleting environment, Lin aims to raise awareness for the environment for audiences in urban spaces.
EARLY LIFE
Maya Lin was born in Athens, Ohio. Her parents had migrated to the United States from China, her father in 1948 and her mother in 1949, and settled in Ohio before Maya was born. Her father, Henry Huan Lin, born in Fuzhou, Fujian, was a ceramist and former dean of the Ohio University College of Fine Arts. Her mother, Julia Chang Lin, born in Shanghai, is a poet and taught literature at Ohio University. She is the niece of Lin Huiyin, who is an American-educated artist, poet and said to be the first female architect in modern China. Lin Juemin and Lin Yin Ming, both of whom are among the 72 martyrs of the Second Guangzhou Uprising, were cousins of her grandfather. Lin Chang-min, a Hanlin of Qing dynasty and the emperor's teacher, was the father of Lin Hui-yin and great-grandfather of Maya Lin.
Lin has an older brother, the poet Tan Lin. Growing up, she did not have many friends and stayed home a lot. She loved school and loved to study. When she was not studying, she took independent courses from Ohio University and spent her free time casting bronzes in the school foundry. Lin, having grown up as an Asian minority, has said that she "didn't even realize" she was Chinese until later in life. It was not until her 30s that she had a desire to understand her cultural background.
Lin graduated from Yale University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1981 and a Master of Architecture degree in 1986.
VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL
In 1981, at 21 and still an undergraduate, Lin won a public design competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, beating 1,441 other competition submissions. The black cut-stone masonry wall, with the names of 57,661 fallen soldiers carved into its face, was completed in late October 1982 and dedicated in November 1982. The wall is granite and V-shaped, with one side pointing to the Lincoln Memorial and the other to the Washington Monument.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
• 1999: Rome Prize
• 2000: Golden Plate Award Academy of Achievement
• 2003: Finn Juhl Prize
• 2005: elected to The American Academy of Arts and Letters
• 2005: elected to National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York
• 2007: AIA Twenty-five Year Award
• 2009: National Medal of Arts
• 2014: Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, a $300,000 art prize.
• 2016: Presidential Medal of Freedom
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Questions
1.When did the Vietnam Veterans Memorial be finished?
2.Where was Maya Lin born?
3.How many awards or honours she received were mentioned in this article?
4.Lin Huiyin is Maya Lin's _____________.
5.What's Maya Lin's major?
