shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileKyrgyzstan

at the foot of the Ala-Too range, in northern Kyrgyzstan

Bishkek

Name: Bishkek — on ceramic tile, by WenderVista
Brand: WenderVista

— — a wide city under sudden mountains.

— 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

— 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

“The capital of Kyrgyzstan, laid out by Russian and Soviet planners in long tree-lined boulevards across the Chuy Valley. South of the city, the Kyrgyz Ala-Too rises in one quick wall to peaks above 4,500 metres. From an apartment block in summer you look up the length of a poplar-lined street and see the snowline at the end of it. There is a bazaar, a flag, and a road that climbs. from the studio

from the studio

— bring it home

Bishkek, 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 Bishkek

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

Bishkek is the capital of Kyrgyzstan, set in the Chuy Valley of the country's far north at roughly 800 metres elevation. The city has a population of about 1.1 million, making it the largest in the country by a wide margin. Founded as the Russian fortress of Pishpek in 1825 and renamed Frunze in 1926 after the Soviet commander born there, it took its current name in 1991 at independence. The Kyrgyz Ala-Too range rises directly south of the city to peaks above 4,500 metres.

— informed by Wikipedia — Bishkek

— the air

The city sits on the open plain of the Chuy Valley, with the Kyrgyz Ala-Too wall rising in one near step to the south. Summer days are dry and hot, often above 30°C in July; winter mornings can fall below minus fifteen. The mountain front catches weather quickly, and storms move down off the range in the late afternoon. Air quality is poor in winter when coal heating sits under cold-air inversions; on clear summer mornings the snowline reads sharp at the end of a downtown street.

— informed by Wikipedia — Bishkek (climate)

— the visit

Manas International Airport, about thirty kilometres north of the city, is the country's main air gateway. The wide central grid laid out under Soviet planning makes Bishkek easy to walk: Ala-Too Square, Oak Park, the Osh Bazaar. South of the city the Ala-Archa National Park, gazetted in 1976, sits about forty kilometres up the canyon and is the standard same-day introduction to the Tien Shan range for visitors arriving in the capital.

— informed by Wikipedia — Ala Archa National Park

— where

Kyrgyzstan · Bishkek, Chuy Valley

— elevation

800 m · 2,625 ft

— position

42.8746° N · 74.5698° E

— 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.

40 km S

Ala-Archa National Park

alpine national park

220 km E

Issyk-Kul

alpine lake

3 km W

Osh Bazaar

central market

Bishkek

Ala-Archa National Park

Issyk-Kul

Osh Bazaar

— common questions

What people ask.

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

— about the place

Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan, China, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Bishkek lies in the country's far north, on the Kazakh border, and is the largest city by a wide margin.

It was laid out by Russian and Soviet planners on a strict grid after the original 1825 fortress of Pishpek. Most of the wide boulevards, parks, and civic squares date to the city's time as Frunze, the Soviet-era capital of the Kirghiz SSR.

The Kyrgyz Ala-Too, the northernmost ridge of the Tien Shan, rises directly south of Bishkek. Peaks above 4,500 metres are visible from the city centre on clear days, sometimes from the end of a single street.

About 800 metres above sea level, on the flat floor of the Chuy Valley. The mountain wall to the south climbs more than three kilometres above the city over a horizontal distance of only twenty or thirty.

Kyrgyz is the state language and Russian holds official status, used widely in government, media, and commerce. Most signage in Bishkek appears in both, and many residents move fluently between the two.

Ala-Archa National Park, gazetted in 1976, sits about forty kilometres south of Bishkek up a canyon of the Ala-Too. It is the standard day trip from the capital into the Tien Shan, with trailheads at about 2,100 metres.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. Bishkek is the capital and the doorway to the Tien Shan, a city most Kyrgyz friends and family pass through. A Medium or Large with a handwritten note from the studio carries the mountain wall home.

The cool greens and silver of the Ala-Too fit Alpine-modern, Soviet-modernist, and cool Minimalist interiors. It sits well beside birch, raw concrete, and felted wool textiles in the Central Asian tradition.

A single Large for a console or entry. Above a sofa the 4-tile Mural lets the mountain wall sit at proper scale. For a long horizontal wall, the 9-tile Mural carries the whole skyline.

Yes, in Dura Satin or Matte. Both are scratch-resistant and made for vertical installation on backsplashes and shower walls. Glossy is for framed wall art away from steam.

A soft microfibre cloth with clean water. No abrasives, no ammonia. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface beneath a thin glossy finish, so the surface itself wipes clean.

Yes. Every WenderVista tile is made in-house by Reid Wender and the studio. No licensing, no third-party imagery. One eye, one atlas of places.

— if this one stayed with you