Wender·Vista
Popayán
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileColombia
in the Andes of southwest Colombia

Popayán

— — a city of white walls, white at evening too.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“A colonial city in the Cauca valley of southwestern Colombia, founded in 1537 by Sebastián de Belalcázar near the foot of the Puracé volcano. Whitewashed walls and balconies give it the name La Ciudad Blanca, the White City. The Holy Week processions through the cobbled streets have been carried in the same form since the sixteenth century, inscribed by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009. — from the studio

from the studio
Popayán
— bring it home

Popayán, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Popayán

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Popayán is the capital of the Department of Cauca in southwestern Colombia, set at 1,737 metres in the Pubenza valley between the western and central cordilleras of the Andes. The Spanish conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar founded the city in 1537 on the road between Quito and Cartagena, and it grew through the colonial period as a centre of gold trade and viceregal administration. The population is around 270,000, and the city sits roughly thirty kilometres east of the active Puracé volcano.

— informed by Wikipedia
— the stone

The historic centre carries the lime-washed colonial architecture that gives the city its name, La Ciudad Blanca. White single and two-storey buildings line a grid of cobbled streets around the Parque Caldas, with the cathedral basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción at its north flank. A 1983 earthquake severely damaged the centre, including the cathedral's dome; reconstruction over the following decade rebuilt the historic facades and reopened the streets to the Holy Week processions in 1992.

— informed by Wikipedia
— the year

Popayán's Semana Santa, Holy Week, has been held in essentially the same form since 1556. Five night processions from Tuesday to Saturday carry wooden tableaux, the pasos, on the shoulders of hooded bearers along a fixed route through the old town. UNESCO inscribed the processions on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009. The city also hosts the parallel Festival de Música Religiosa in the same week, and was designated a UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2005, the first in the Americas.

— informed by UNESCO
— where
Colombia · Cauca
— elevation
1,737 m · 5,699 ft
— position
2.4448° N · 76.6147° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
30 km E
Puracé Volcano
active volcano
60 km NE
Silvia
Misak market town
140 km N
Cali
city
N
Popayán
Puracé Volcano
Silvia
Cali
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Popayán — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

The capital of the Department of Cauca in southwestern Colombia, sitting at 1,737 metres in the Pubenza valley of the Andes, about a hundred and forty kilometres south of Cali on the Pan-American Highway.

The historic centre is built of lime-washed colonial buildings, most of one or two storeys, around a grid of cobbled streets. The whitewashed facades have given Popayán the name La Ciudad Blanca since the colonial period.

Five night processions from Tuesday to Saturday carry wooden religious tableaux through the old town on the shoulders of hooded bearers. The tradition dates from 1556 and was inscribed by UNESCO in 2009.

The Spanish conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar founded Popayán in 1537 on the road between Quito and Cartagena. The grid plan and several colonial churches survive from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

UNESCO designated Popayán a City of Gastronomy in 2005, the first in the Americas. The Congreso Gastronómico each September draws cooks and historians; regional dishes include carantanta, empanadas de pipián, and sancocho de gallina.

— about the piece in your home

It has been a meaningful gift for customers connected to Cauca or the Colombian Andes. Popayán is one of the most loved colonial cities in the country, beloved for the white facades and the Holy Week tradition.

The white-on-white and warm clay tones of the painting sit cleanly with Spanish-colonial, Mediterranean-modern, and Mountain-modern interiors. The dark stained-glass linework also reads well against a Library-modern gallery wall.

A single Large reads cleanly above a standard sofa or console. For a wider statement above an eight-foot sofa, the four-tile Mural opens the plaza and cathedral together across the wall.

Yes. Choose Dura Satin or Matte for any wet or vertical install; both are scratch-resistant and handle steam. Glossy is reserved for framed wall art in dry rooms.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original to our family studio in Knoxville. The painting is the studio's own, slowly infused into the ceramic surface beneath a thin glossy finish.

— if this one stayed with you

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