Artist Maya Lin joins Colby through remote fellowship

Bob Keyes, Portland Press Herald, August 26, 2020

Maya Lin, an artist and designer best known for creating the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., will join the Lunder Institute for American Art at Colby College as a senior fellow during the current school year.

Colby announced Lin’s appointment Wednesday morning. Lin, whose studio practice is in New York, will fulfill her fellowship remotely, collaborating with students and faculty, as well as the community, through a series of online interactions related to art and the environment and her ongoing project, “What Is Missing?” devoted to global biodiversity and habitat loss. The artist has been associated with Colby since 2009, when the Colby College Museum of Art acquired the first of two of her works as part of the Lunder Collection, a massive trove of American art that was donated to the college by longtime benefactors Peter and Paula Lunder.

After accepting the donation, Colby expanded the museum to create more gallery space and established the Lunder Institute for American Art to function in tandem with the museum as a scholarly institute. Lin delivered a sold-out lecture at Colby in spring 2016, and the museum has since acquired a third piece by Lin, “Interrupted River: Penobscot,” a large-scale glass marble site-specific installation that she created as the centerpiece of the exhibition “Occupy Colby” in 2019.

In a statement, Lin said she was attracted to Colby because of its strong environmental studies and arts programs.