Maya Lin

Born in Athens, Ohio, to Chinese immigrant parents, Maya Lin’s artistic lineage is undeniable. Her mother was a literature professor and poet, her father a ceramicist and former dean of Ohio University's College of Fine Arts. This dual heritage of intellect and artistry clearly set the stage for her future — though perhaps not the kind of stage where one would find a kiddush cup.

Lin rose to national prominence at the tender age of 21 while still an undergraduate at Yale, when her design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was selected from over 1,400 submissions. The wall, etched with the names of over 58,000 fallen soldiers, was revolutionary in its stark, minimalist, and deeply emotional approach, proving that sometimes, less is indeed more (and certainly less overtly triumphalist than some veterans might have preferred).

Her work consistently explores themes of memory, nature, and place, often with a quiet power that manages to be both monumental and intimate. From the Civil Rights Memorial to her landscape art and environmental sculptures, Lin’s contributions to American public art are significant, even if her most famous work caused a bit of a kerfuffle among those who preferred their memorials to look more like, well, statues of soldiers.