SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Most of the following items are available on a special
Maya Lin Reserve shelf in the Art Library.

BOOKS

Lin, Maya Ying. Boundaries. New York, Simon & Schuster, 2000. 203p.
Lin writes candidly and informally about her goals, working methods, the reception of her public art, and the circumstances surrounding the creation of many of her works. Excellent illustrations.

Lin, Maya Ying. Maya Lin. Milan, Electa; Rome, American Academy in Rome, 1998. 99p.
Catalog of an exhibition that focused on the relationship of Lin's maquettes and models to her finished works. Introduction by Peter Boswell, then Heiskell Fine Arts Director at the Academy. Among the essays are Vincent Scully's "Vietnam Veterans Memorial," in which he states that the VVM "has to be seen not only as the most important monument but also as the single most significant work of architecture to be constructed in the United States during the second half of this century," and Michael Brenson's essay, "Maya Lin's time," reprinted from the SECCA catalog, Maya Lin: topologies (see next item). Bibliography.

Lin, Maya Ying. Maya Lin: topologies. Winston-Salem, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, 1998. 56p.
Documents an exhibition, subsequently circulated to several other venues, of Lin's work organized by Jeff Fleming, then chief curator of SECCA. Includes Fleming's introductory essay, a brief essay by Terri Dowell-Dennis, SECCA curator of education, on the Winston Park Youth Landscape Project, a restoration effort that was inspired by Lin's presence at SECCA as part of its "Artist and the Community" program. Also includes critic Michael Brenson's "Maya Lin's time," the most insightful essay that has been written on Lin's art. Bibliography.

Lin, Maya Ying. Timetable: Maya Lin. Stanford, CA, Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for the Visual Arts, [2002?]. 39p.
Brief statements by Lin about concepts of time accompany a series of photographs of the piece.

Rogers, Sarah J. Maya Lin: public/private. Columbus, Ohio, Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, 1994. 39p.
Catalog of an exhibition that explores the dichotomy between Lin's large-scale public works, such as the VVM, and the small studio sculptures made of materials like beeswax, lead, and shattered glass that she creates for herself. The exhibition celebrated Lin's period in 1992-93 as artist in residence at the Wexner Center. The centerpiece of the show, and a prime example of Lin's "public" art, was Groundswell, the permanent environmental sculpture she made for the Wexner. The catalog contains a conversation between Lin and Sarah Rogers, director of exhibitions at the Wexner, in which Lin discusses the origins of Groundswell and also talks about how she creates the "private" works.

Scruggs, Jan C. and Swerdlow, Joel L. To heal a nation: the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. New York, Harper & Row, 1985. 414p.
Intense and absorbing history of the VVM by Vietnam-veteran Scruggs, who had the original idea for a monument, organized the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and helped lead the fight for acceptance of the Lin design. Scholarly accounts are Mary McLeod's "The battle for the monument: the Vietnam Veterans Memorial," in Hélène Lipstadt's The experimental tradition: essays on competitions in architecture, New York, Architectural League of New York; Princeton Architectural Press, 1989, p.115-137, and "Vietnam Veterans Memorial," by Nicholas J. Capasso, in Tod Marder's The critical edge: controversy in recent American architecture, Cambridge, MIT Press, 1985, p.188-202.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Finkelpearl, Tom, "The anti-monumental work of Maya Lin," Public art review, v.8, no.1 (Fall/winter, 1996), p.5-9.
Wide-ranging interview in which Lin discusses the VVM, Civil Rights Memorial, Topo, and a project for Federal Courthouse Plaza in New York.

Hawthorne, Christopher, "Maya Lin, America's newest urbanist," Metropolis, March, 2002, p.2-8.
Much information about Lin's recently completed park in Grand Rapids and the aesthetic and political issues that the project involved. Lin also discusses her current studio practices.

Heartney, Eleanor, "Distillations of landscape," Art in America, v.86, no.9 (Sept. 1998), p.86-89, 137.
Intelligent review of the "Maya Lin: topologies" exhibition that originated at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (see entry for catalog in Books section above).

Menand, Louis, "Profiles: the reluctant memorialist," The New Yorker, v.78, no.18 (July 8, 2002), p.54-65.
Particularly informative in its reporting of Lin's current projects, including activity related to a possible Ground Zero memorial. Also has the best brief account of the history of the VVM, as told from Lin's point of view.

Rabinowitz, Cay Sophie, "Making waves: Cay Sophie Rabinowitz interviews Maya Lin," Art papers, v.24, no.2, (March/April 2000), p.26-31.
Lin discusses differences among the various categories of her work-studio pieces, memorials, site-specific sculpture, architecture. She talks at length about the origins of Wave Field, the concept of time in the Civil Rights Memorial, expresses admiration for Jochen Gerz's Memorial against Fascism (Hamburg, Germany), and discusses her recent chair design for Knoll.

Stein, Judith E., "Space and place," Art in America, v.82, no.12 (Dec. 1994), p.66-71, 117.
Retrospective assessment of Lin's career to date, beginning with the Wexner Center exhibition (see entry for catalog in Books section above) and its centerpiece, the site-specific sculpture, Groundswell.

FILMS

Maya Lin: a strong, clear vision, videocasette, 98 min., American Film Foundation, Sanders & Mock Productions, Santa Monica, 1995.
Scenes of Lin at work on various projects, with voiceovers by her and interviews of her. Striking footage of meetings, hearings, and ceremonies connected with the VVM and the Civil Rights Memorial. Won the 1995 Academy Award for best feature documentary.

  Compiled by Alex Ross, Stanford University (c)2002.