Designer, artist and environmentalist Maya Lin will visit West Virginia University on Thursday, April 16, where she will present the annual Dan and Betsy Brown Lecture as part of the events leading up to the opening of the new Art Museum of WVU August.

Lin will talk about her remarkable career in both art and architecture, which began when she virtually redefined the idea of “monument” with her design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Lin’s talk, titled “Between Art and Architecture,” will be held April 16 at 7 p.m. at WVU’s Erickson Alumni Center. The lecture is free and open to the public.

“We are delighted that Dan and Betsy Brown have designated that the 2015 Brown Lecture focus on topics related to the new Art Museum of WVU opening in August,” said Art Museum Director Joyce Ice. “It is a great honor to present Maya Lin as our first distinguished lecturer. Her outstanding work has been recognized nationally and internationally.”

Maya Lin’s acclaimed work encompasses large-scale environmental installations, intimate studio artworks, and architectural works, as well as memorials. Her art exudes a profound respect and love for the natural environment.

Her work has been in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad. In 2009, Lin was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama, and in 2014 she was honored with the prestigious Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize.

Lin’s architectural projects create a close dialogue between landscape and built environment and she is committed to advocating sustainable design solutions in all her works. Her architectural projects include the new campus master plan and main building for Novartis in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and recently completed works include the Museum for Chinese in America in New York City, the Riggio-Lynch Chapel and Langston Hughes Library for the Children’s Defense Fund, and a private residence in Colorado that was honored as one of Architecture Record’s Record Houses in 2006.

She is currently working on her last memorial, titled “What is Missing?” The project proposes that we look at a memorial not as a singular static object, but as a work that can exist in multiple forms and at multiple sites simultaneously. These works raise awareness about species and habitat loss and will give people both immediate and long-term solutions to the current crisis surrounding biodiversity loss and the overarching threat of climate change.

Maya Lin has been profiled in Time Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Smithsonian, and Art in America, among others. The 1996 documentary about her work, “Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision” won the Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Dan and Betsy Brown, natives of West Virginia and 1959 graduates of WVU, endowed the Dan and Betsy Brown Lecture Series in 2002. Dan Brown is retired from The Capital Group Companies, Inc., in Los Angeles. The Browns’ generous support of WVU has included establishing The Brown Family Faculty Development Fund, as well as a Guest Room at Blaney House, the WVU Marching Band’s state-of-the-art rehearsal tower and photography and computer-assisted design (CAD) labs at the Creative Arts Center.

For more information about the Maya Lin lecture, contact the Art Museum of WVU at (304) 293-7790 or the College of Creative Arts at (304) 293-4359.

-WVU-

cl/04/10/15

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

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