I've chosen to take seven driftwood trees that had washed up on the shores of Waikiki Beach and erect them there.
–Maya Lin

An initial color design rendering shows sections of upright cedar driftwood logs at the back of the amphitheater. The bare logs appear pale and ghost-like in contrast to the deep green of the living trees. Lin chose logs from the beach, some fairly straight, others bulging with stubs of their former roots and branches. Considering each one further as a sculptural element followed –studying their forms, and planning their placement. The logs were analyzed to ensure they would be structurally sound when erected on a concrete platform. Project engineers custom-tailored steel supports to fit the form of each log, as unobtrusively
as possible.

Where grasses give way to trees, Maya Lin installed sections of cedar driftwood in a roughly circular arrangement. At the center of the circle sits an ancient cedar tree section, predating the arrival of the Corps of Discovery. Its surface reveals the rings that record its venerable age. The six driftwood logs plus the ancient center recall the directions known to Native people–north, south, east, west, up, down, and in. A bed of oyster shell lies beneath the stump and and the closest standing logs. A little further away, the other standing logs are intermingled with the living trees.

A glimpse of Maya Lin’s process for creating the Cedar Circle, and applying a creative process in your own work. . .

Lin’s choices to work with cedar, basalt, oyster shell and driftwood are a result of her interest in exploring the nature of the site and creating work connected to its environment at Cape Disappointment. Looking at driftwood on the beach as an array of forms also brought to mind the giant living trees the logs had been, and the timber industry that flourished nearby. She conceived an installation of standing driftwood columns, and selected weathered logs from the beach. Engineers worked with her to design supports for the logs that would hold them safely and be unobtrusive visually. At first she envisioned them in a curving line behind the amphitheater, then she revised the design to a circular form among living trees.

Engaging in an artistic process...