Wender·Vista
Bitterroot Range east face from Stevensville
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileMontana
from the valley floor at Stevensville, looking west

Bitterroot Range east face from Stevensville

— — the wall of granite that catches the last of the light.

— 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

“The east face of the Bitterroot rises straight from the valley floor west of Stevensville, glaciated canyons cut between the high points. The range marks the Idaho line and runs more than a hundred miles north to south. At Stevensville, the oldest town in Montana, the wall takes the evening light and holds it long after the valley below has cooled.

from the studio
Bitterroot Range east face from Stevensville
— bring it home

Bitterroot Range east face from Stevensville, 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 Bitterroot Range east face from Stevensville

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

The Bitterroot Range forms the western wall of the Bitterroot Valley and the Montana–Idaho border for more than one hundred and forty miles. The east face rises sharply from the valley floor near Stevensville, carved into a row of U-shaped canyons (Bass, Kootenai, Big, and Sweathouse) by Pleistocene glaciers. Trapper Peak, the high point at 10,157 feet, sits south of Stevensville. Stevensville itself was founded in 1841 around St. Mary's Mission by the Jesuit Pierre-Jean De Smet and is the oldest permanent settlement in Montana.

— the stone

The range is built largely of the Idaho Batholith, a 70-million-year-old body of granite that crystallised deep underground and was lifted to the surface as the surrounding sedimentary rock eroded away. Glaciers in the last ice age carved the east face into a row of canyons separated by knife-edge ridges. The granite weathers slowly and holds its lines; climbers on the faces above Blodgett Canyon work some of the longest granite walls in the lower forty-eight outside of Yosemite.

— the light

The Bitterroot Valley runs north to south, and the range catches the late afternoon and evening light along its full east face. From Stevensville the wall sits about ten miles west across the valley floor at roughly 3,300 feet, while the ridges rise to over nine thousand feet. Alpenglow on the granite reads pink in late summer and orange in winter, and the last light often holds on the highest snow long after the valley itself has gone into shadow.

— where
United States · Ravalli County, Montana
— elevation
1,009 m · 3,310 ft
— position
46.5083° N · 114.0922° 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.
40 km N
Missoula
city
25 km S
Hamilton
valley town
1 km W
St. Mary's Mission
historic mission
3 km N
Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge
wildlife refuge
20 km N
Lolo
valley town
N
Bitterroot Range east face from Stevensville
Missoula
Hamilton
St. Mary's Mission
Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge
Lolo
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Bitterroot Range east face from Stevensville — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

The range runs more than 140 miles along the Montana–Idaho border, from the Lolo Pass area north of Missoula south past the Salmon River drainage. The east face above Stevensville is one of its most exposed sections.

Stevensville is the oldest permanent settlement in Montana, founded in 1841 around St. Mary's Mission by the Jesuit priest Pierre-Jean De Smet. The town sits on the Bitterroot River at the foot of the east face.

Trapper Peak, the highest summit in the Bitterroot Range, reaches 10,157 feet. It sits south of Stevensville and west of Darby and is visible from much of the southern Bitterroot Valley on a clear day.

Largely granite of the Idaho Batholith, a body of rock about seventy million years old. Glaciers in the last ice age carved the east face into a series of U-shaped canyons separated by sharp granite ridges.

Late afternoon and evening, in every season, because the valley runs north to south and the wall faces east. Alpenglow on the upper granite often holds for ten or fifteen minutes after the valley floor has gone into shadow.

— about the piece in your home

It often is. The east face is the view from any porch on the valley floor, the wall locals watch for weather and light. A Medium in an entry, or a Large where the evening light reaches it.

The piece reads well in mountain-modern interiors with warm wood and stone, in western-traditional rooms with leather and darker walls, and in alpine-minimal spaces where the granite greys and pine greens anchor a wall.

A single Large covers most sofas in a standard sitting room. The range is wide; a four-tile Mural reads especially well above a long sectional. A Medium or paired Smalls suits a console table.

Yes, in Dura Satin or Matte. Both finishes handle steam and splash and resist scratching. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure and does not lift with daily wiping.

A soft microfibre cloth and clean water. Skip ammonia, citrus, and abrasive pads. The infused colour stays put, and the finish keeps an even sheen with gentle care.

— if this one stayed with you

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