Wender·Vista
Greensboro
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileUnited States
in the Piedmont of central North Carolina

Greensboro

— the four seats that did not move.

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 small city in the rolling Piedmont, between Raleigh and Charlotte. The lunch counter from the 1960 Woolworth sit-in stands a few blocks from City Hall, four stools still bolted to the floor inside the museum that took the building's place. Magnolias line South Elm Street. The dogwoods come out in April, the heat settles in by June.

from the studio
Greensboro
— bring it home

Greensboro, 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 Greensboro

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

Greensboro sits in the Piedmont of central North Carolina, between Raleigh and Charlotte along the I-40 and I-85 corridor, with a population of roughly 300,000. The city was named the seat of Guilford County in 1808, after the 1781 Battle of Guilford Courthouse, where Nathanael Greene's Continentals bled the British army that would later surrender at Yorktown. The campuses of UNC Greensboro and North Carolina A&T anchor the downtown grid, and the elevation runs around 270 metres above sea level.

— informed by Wikipedia
the year

On February 1, 1960, four freshmen from North Carolina A&T (Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond) sat at the whites-only lunch counter inside the Woolworth on South Elm Street and asked to be served. They were refused, and they stayed. By week's end the sit-in had grown to several hundred students, and within two months similar protests had reached more than fifty cities. The counter is preserved inside the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, which opened in the building in 2010.

the visit

The International Civil Rights Center & Museum at 134 South Elm Street holds the original Woolworth lunch counter and four stools, with timed entry by guided tour. Greensboro is reached most easily by Piedmont Triad International Airport, about twenty minutes west of downtown, or by Amtrak's Carolinian and Piedmont lines on the daily Raleigh-to-Charlotte run. The Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, on the north edge of the city, is free and open daily and preserves the 1781 battlefield.

— informed by NPS Guilford Courthouse
where
United States · Guilford County, North Carolina
elevation
270 m · 886 ft
position
36.0726° N · 79.7920° 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.
10 km N
Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
Revolutionary War battlefield
25 km SW
High Point
furniture city
50 km W
Winston-Salem
Piedmont city
85 km E
Durham
Research Triangle city
N
Greensboro
Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
High Point
Winston-Salem
Durham
common questions

What people ask.

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

It is where the 1960 Woolworth sit-in began. On February 1, four North Carolina A&T students sat at the whites-only counter and refused to leave, launching a wave of sit-ins across more than fifty cities that spring.

In the central Piedmont of North Carolina, on the I-40 and I-85 corridor between Raleigh to the east and Charlotte to the southwest. The elevation is around 270 metres above sea level.

On March 15, 1781, Nathanael Greene's Continentals fought Cornwallis to a tactical British victory at heavy cost. The bled British force later surrendered at Yorktown. The battlefield is now a National Military Park.

Inside the International Civil Rights Center & Museum at 134 South Elm Street, which opened in the former Woolworth building in 2010. Four of the original stools remain at the counter.

UNC Greensboro, North Carolina A&T State University (the country's largest historically Black university), Bennett College, Greensboro College, and Guilford College all sit within the city limits.

April brings dogwood and azalea bloom across the older neighborhoods, and October cools the Piedmont into clear, dry weeks. Summers are humid; January and February are mild but unsettled.

about the piece in your home

It has been a thoughtful gift for graduates of UNC Greensboro or North Carolina A&T, for civil-rights educators, and for anyone who grew up walking South Elm Street. A Small or Medium with a handwritten studio note carries well.

The piece reads well against Southern transitional interiors, mid-century-modern living rooms, and warm-toned academic studies. The stained-glass colour register favors rooms with oak, brass, and unbleached linen over cool grey palettes.

Yes. Warm Southern modern leans on amber, ochre, and forest tones with hand-finished surfaces, and the tile's slow ceramic colour reads as collected rather than printed alongside oak millwork and natural fibers.

A single Large reads cleanly over a console table or reading chair. Above a standard sofa a 4-tile Mural fills the wall well, and a 9-tile Mural is the room-defining choice.

Yes, ordered in Dura Satin or Matte. Both finishes are scratch-resistant and humidity-stable, suitable for a powder-room wall, a kitchen backsplash, or a shower surround.

A soft microfibre cloth with plain water is enough. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface beneath a thin glossy finish, so household cleaners and harsher solvents are unnecessary.

Yes. Every WenderVista painting is made in-house by Reid Wender, the curator, and hand-finished in our Knoxville studio. We do not license outside artwork.

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