Maya Lin made her spectacular debut in 1982 with the work she's still best known for: the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., which she designed as a 21-year-old college student. Though initially controversial, Lin's simple, black granite wall of names carved into the earth is now recognized as one of the most important and profound works of public art and memory of our age.

Lin went on to design several more memorials, including one honoring the civil rights movement, in Montgomery, Ala., and another called 'Women's Table' at Yale University. "Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes" is at the Corcoran Gallery of Art through July 12.

Jeffery Brown's profile of Lin from Tuesday's program can be found here. Below are two extended interviews with Lin:

 
Photos by Aileen Humphreys, Newshour with Jim Lehrer.

Much more about Maya Lin can be found at PBS.org.