LANDLINES: San Luis Valley (Journey Into the American West). Spector Books. Saxton, Handwerker. 2024. 8 x 10 in. 400 pg.

PRE-ORDER the culmination of M12 STUDIO’s LANDLINES Initiative, a multi-year engagement with Colorado’s rural San Luis Valley between 2018–2022. The largest alpine valley in the world, the San Luis Valley is characterized by an unparalleled range of physical geography and extraordinary environmental phenomena; social, cultural, and economic diversity. It is a land of sand dunes, wetlands, and farmland, all above 10,000 feet in elevation. The Valley has been home to both mixed Hispanic ancestral villages, Spanish and Anglo settlements, Indigenous territories, and Catholic, Mormon, Amish, Hindu and Buddhist communities. Nestled between the Sangre de Cristo and San Juan Mountain ranges, it is home to rivers and acequias; historic adobe architecture; barley, cannabis and potato farms; deserts and dead volcanoes; UFO activity and cryptids; folk music; and medicinal ecology. Dominated by the presence of the Rio Grande River, the San Luis Valley is the headwaters of lifeways that follow it and branch out. The San Luis Valley is truly “America’s Attic,” and an entryway into a deeper understanding of the American Southwest.

“LANDLINES brings the essence of the Valley to life, and underscores the imperative of preservation and telling the stories of the unique and wonderful history of the San Luis Valley.”

—Ken Salazar
United States Ambassador to Mexico
and former United States Secretary of the Interior

Created by M12 STUDIO as a way to think collectively about place, cultural preservation, environmental awareness, and our rural futures, LANDLINES promotes connections between art and other forms of cultural work throughout the Valley. The LANDLINES Initiative documents 18 contributions from artists, scholars, poets, scientists, and musicians interpreting and reflecting on the spatial dynamics of the San Luis Valley. Weaving together poetry, fiction, research, reflections and photographs, alongside visual and sound artworks, the LANDLINES book embraces the voices and vibrations present in the SLV, offering the reader a road map to deeper understanding of this special place. An additional interactive map accompanies this book and is available online at LANDLINES.site.

PRE-ORDER BONUS! The first 100 books come with a limited-edition poster featuring the ADOBE AMBULANCE project, a utility vehicle designed by M12 STUDIO dedicated to conserving vernacular adobe structures and forms throughout the San Luis Valley.