Princeton University chooses artist to design piece for new Lewis Center

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The artist who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. has been tabbed by Princeton University for a public artwork outside the university’s new Lewis Center for the Arts, the school’s art museum said Tuesday.
Maya Lin, the artist, could not be reached for comment, with sparse details released this week about the project. The university said more information would be provided later this month.
The timing of the announcement came the same week as when Lin has an exhibition of her work opening Thursday at the Pace Gallery, in New York City. Lin, 57, was an undergraduate student at Yale University when she won the competition to design the war memorial.
The Lewis Center is the heart of the arts and transit project that the university had embarked upon with financial backing from alumnus Peter B. Lewis, who gave $101 million toward it. Overall, the project — which included a new Dinky train station — had a price tag of more than $300 million.
According to the university, the center has three buildings in a “village-like cluster.” A series of concerts and other events, taking place Oct. 5 to 8, will mark the opening of the complex.