In “Flow,” Lin let nature speak for itself. You to think, ‘Oh my God, I had no idea that the Grand River had such anĮxtensive watershed.’ But I’m not going to say much more.” The art is there to present a way of looking at the planet and getting But even the geographically specific works wereĪllusive, something which Lin readily admitted: “I don’t preach through myĪrtwork. Installation didn’t reference any particular geographical region, and in this Ocean waves (visually rhyming with Lin’s Wave Fields), this abstract Of thousands of two-by-fours, cut and arranged to appear like undulating That documents the alarming rapidity of ecological changes driven by humanĪctivity, delivers an emphatically clear message: our current exploitation of Works are as understated as those featured in “Flow.” What is Missing?, an ongoing informational project Named after rapids that were completely straightened.” Rapids themselves, wryly observing, “I think it’s ironic that you’ve got a town As an example, she cited the actual Grand “How can we protect it if we don’t even know when Watershed and the crowdsourced What is Missing?, Lin seeks to raiseĪwareness of local ecologies. This and related works, including a recent pin rendering of the Mississippi Get the microbial action back, we can turn our lawns into carbon sinks.” In Properly maintained lawns, we could go back to natural organics rather thanīurning the nitrogen out, which allows for little microbial action. The amount of agricultural runoff into our watersheds is huge…theįertilizers that run into the Great Lakes cause the algae blooms. Me is going to present a watershed because watersheds are beautiful featheredįorms, and also because I had no idea of the vastness of the reach of the Specific ecological issues informing this work, she volunteered that “part of Their heads mimicking the flicker of light on water. In a pixelated fashion by thousands of pins inserted into the wall, the silver of Site-specific works on view was a drawing of the Grand River Watershed, rendered Displayed in the gallery without any reference to national, state, or provincial borders, The Traces Left Behind offered subtle proof that natural forces supersede human constructs. Suddenly, it became arrestingly clear that Michigan’s five Great Lakes are merely a small part of a vast chain of massive water bodies, some bearing names many of us have never heard before. The ensemble consists of cast silver sculptures of all the North American Great Lakes, which were formed by the retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet, and it demonstrates that the panoramic sweep of the Great Lakes extends far into the Canadian Northwest Territories at a longitude well above Anchorage, Alaska. Anyone who has grown up in the Midwest will know the familiar image of the region’s five Great Lakes, which, as Lin observes, have “become almost a logo.” But The Traces Left Behind (From the Great Bear Lake to the Great Lakes) offered a shock of unrecognition. While most of the works in “Flow” represented specific geographical sites, some were deliberately disorienting. Land approximately two million years ago. Of New York’s Finger Lakes, mimicking the glacial action that scoured out the Lin carved directly into the wall for her topographical representation Present-retreating glaciers, after all, created most of the geographical forms depicted Melt as they heat up, so these works subtly reference global warming, past and Is thoughtfully intentional with her materials silver, metal, and encaustic all Installation showing the topography of Blue Lake Pass in the Rocky Mountains. Great Lakes (both American and Canadian), and an immersive particleboard Rendering of the retreating Laurentide Ice Shelf, cast silver renderings of the Media, including an encaustic topographical “Flow” featured a cross-section of new and recent works in a variety of (The show coincided with the 20th anniversary of Ecliptic, her outdoor work inspired by water in its three states, which has helped to revitalize a public space in Grand Rapids.) As the Flint water crisis and the recurrent Great Lakes algae blooms have demonstrated, clean water can’t be taken for granted, even in Michigan, a state surrounded by some of the largest freshwater lakes in the world. “Flow,” Lin’s recent exhibition, was devoted to sculptural works addressing the need to be more mindful of water. From the meteoric launch of her artistic career in 1981 to the present, Maya Lin has harnessed an elegantly Minimalist vocabulary to convey potent messages, frequently using her work to demonstrate humanity’s impact on the natural environment.
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