Maya Lin

In June 2007 – Maya Lin and MGM Resorts International agreed to commission a work by Maya Lin for the ARIA Lobby. Throughout the process, there were a couple of different proposals, including a wire installation focusing on the mountain terrain of the Spring Mountains outside of Las Vegas. Through Maya’s thorough investigation of the site and how it related to her work, she ultimately decided on the “Colorado River” concept. At the time, Maya had begun her investigation into the bodies of water and rivers as a point of reference for her work.

“I focused on 20 endangered rivers and bodies of water, both in this country and throughout the world. And when I do, I also do a copious amount of research into the history, ecological history of that river, and of that place….people don't really remember the history of a river, and often times we think of where we are along that river, but we don't really worry what's downstream from us, and we might only think about what's upstream from us if someone's polluting. I think, to me, you have to think of waterways as these complex almost like the living veins of the planet, and you have to think of watersheds. I basically turn a river into a drawing… they're deliberately made to be precious and beautiful.” 1

On Placement of Her Work in Vegas

“I have a not- for- profit foundation called “What Is Missing”, which focuses on what we are losing in biodiversity, what we are losing in terms of habitat. So, to me, being able to showcase rivers and seeing them as a singularity, as a precious whole, is something that I actually relished having it in as unexpected a location as the lobby of a hotel in Las Vegas. Of course, the amount of energy and the amount of water that the desert town draws from the Colorado River was something I definitely wanted people to think about. I wanted to connect people to where they are in the natural world, and to connect them to something that is connected to them, that they might not be thinking about.”

“It was also being able to do a recycled silver river, and it had to be recycled.” [Nevada] is a Silver State, and to be able to create what I think is one of the largest, if not the largest, silver sculpture in the world. I think we set a record…. Walla Walla (foundry) fabricated it for us. No one had ever worked at this scale in silver, certainly not in this country…. But to be able to make something that was, in that sense, ironically, fairly glitzy”

Maya explained that due to the sheer size of the work she created for this project – the topographical detail of the river is more exact that any other work she has created. You can see the variation of the landscape and its surface, which adds even more dimension and depth to the piece.

Footnotes

1. Quotes from phone interview with Maya Lin by Michele C Quinn/ MCQ FINE ART; March 11, 2025