"Love Letters to Awi Kwa Ame" Alina Lindquist

Artist Alina Lindquist’s solo exhibition, Love Letters to Avi Kwa Ame, presents a moving tribute to the Mojave Desert’s storied and sacred landscape. Known as Spirit Mountain in Mojave, Avi Kwa Ame is one of the Mojave Desert’s most revered landmarks, and Lindquist’s work reflects both the profound beauty and cultural significance of this newly protected monument.

Lindquist first encountered Avi Kwa Ame in January 2024, when she was invited as an artist-in-residence to the Mystery Ranch, an art and ecology research station within the monument. From that initial visit, she felt a deep connection to this 800-square-mile expanse, located at Nevada’s southern tip. Over six months, she returned frequently to immerse herself in its vast desert landscapes, hidden canyons, and rare ecosystems, letting the spirit of the land inform each brushstroke.

Avi Kwa Ame, the sacred mountain of the ten Yuman-speaking tribes (including the Mojave), as well as the Southern Paiute and Hopi people, was designated a national monument in 2023. This recognition not only preserves its significance for Indigenous cultures but also protects a unique desert ecosystem that includes juniper-pine woodlands, Sonoran grasslands, and the ancient Wee Thump Joshua tree forest. These rugged, enchanting spaces—filled with towering Joshua trees, delicate blackbrush, and unexpected springs—serve as Lindquist’s canvas, where she captures both the majesty and minutiae of the monument’s terrain.

Each painting in the Love Letters to Avi Kwa Ame exhibition reflects Lindquist’s plein air approach, in which she works outdoors to directly capture the spirit of the landscape. Using oil, watercolor, or gouache, she begins each piece on location, capturing fleeting moments of light, shadow, and color before refining these impressions into larger studio pieces. In these larger works, Lindquist balances the immediate, raw energy of her field studies with a deeper narrative informed by her ongoing research into Avi Kwa Ame’s flora, geography, and cultural history.

In her own words, Lindquist describes her time in the monument as a profound dialogue with the desert itself: “Sometimes it’s the serene silence the desert exudes, and other times it’s the playful dances the Joshua trees appear to be performing. I listen to what the desert has to say in those moments and then translate it with paint.” Her paintings embody this reciprocity, conveying not only what she sees but also how she feels about the land. They reveal Lindquist’s deep reverence for the desert, a place that gives as much in stillness as it does in spectacle.

From sprawling panoramic views to intimate glimpses of secluded springs, her canvases resonate with a sense of wonder and discovery. The desert’s vastness is met with Lindquist’s quiet intensity, giving viewers a chance to connect with a landscape that is both immense and profoundly intimate. Her love for Avi Kwa Ame flows through each piece, transforming paint and canvas into personal missives to the land.

As an artist, Lindquist’s relationship with Avi Kwa Ame goes beyond visual depiction. Spending countless days in the desert, she has developed a practice of observing, learning, and painting that continuously feeds back into itself. The more time she spends in the Mojave Desert, the more she researches the local ecology, Indigenous histories, and geology. In her words, “The more time I spend outside, the more I research the landscape, the plants, and the area's history.” This dedication to learning enriches her studio work, where she channels the land’s essence through layered, textured brushstrokes informed by both experience and understanding.

For Lindquist, each piece in Love Letters to Avi Kwa Ame is a message, a way of preserving and sharing her intimate connection with this remarkable landscape. Her work is not just about portraying beauty but about honoring a place that has profoundly impacted her. The exhibition invites us to slow down, to look and listen, and to consider our own connections to nature, land, and the stories it holds.

Love Letters to Avi Kwa Ame invited viewers to experience the spirit of Avi Kwa Ame through the eyes of an artist who has spent countless hours exploring, listening, and capturing the ineffable qualities of this cherished monument. Through Lindquist’s artwork, we are reminded of the sacred nature of this land and the need to protect and cherish it for generations to come.