Wave Field

Maya Lin
1995; Earth, Grass; Earthwork
North Campus; Courtyard, SE side of Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building

Commissioned by the Association FXB in memory of Francois-Xavier Bagnoud (‘82 Aerospace Eng.), and gift of his mother, Countess Albina du Boisrouvray. A pure earth sculpture occupying a square space of 90′ x 90′ and representing a naturally occurring wave pattern, artist Maya Lin described it as “. . . pure poetry. It is a very gentle space that exists on a very human scale. It is a sanctuary, yet it’s playful, and with the changing shadows of the sun, it is completely transformed throughout the day. ‘The Wave Field’ expresses my desire to completely integrate a work with its site, revealing the connectedness of art to landscape, or landscape as art.” Lin is best known as the artist who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, and the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, AL.