Wender·Vista
Lovelock Cave
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileNevada · United States
in the Humboldt Sink, an hour east of Reno

Lovelock Cave

— — the dry dark that kept its decoys for two thousand years.

— 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 low limestone overhang above what used to be a marsh, where in 1924 a cache of woven tule duck decoys came out of the dust still tied at the necks. The Northern Paiute know the cave from older stories than that. The road in is grader-graded and unsigned past the last cattle guard. Most days, nobody else turns up the wash.

from the studio
Lovelock Cave
— bring it home

Lovelock Cave, 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 Lovelock Cave

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

Lovelock Cave is a rockshelter in the limestone hills above the Humboldt Sink in Pershing County, Nevada, about twenty miles southwest of the town of Lovelock. The site sits on what was once the shoreline of Pleistocene-era Lake Lahontan. It was first excavated in 1912 by L.L. Loud of the University of California and again in 1924 with Mark Raymond Harrington of the Heye Foundation. The Northern Paiute know the cave through long oral tradition tied to the Humboldt Valley.

— the silence

There is no visitor centre and no posted hours. A graded BLM road runs out from Lovelock town through alkali flat and greasewood; the last half mile is a walk-in across loose scree. Wind moves through the entrance in the late afternoon and the cave itself is dry enough that the 1924 dig found basketry, sandals, and the decoy bundle intact. Coyote and raven keep the air. Sound carries a long way across the sink.

— the year

The eleven tule duck decoys lifted out of the cave in 1924 have been radiocarbon dated to roughly 2,000 years before present, which makes them among the oldest known decoys in the world. They were woven from bulrush stems harvested from the marshes of the Humboldt Sink, painted, and in some cases dressed with real feathers. Ten of them are held by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington. One stayed in Nevada.

— where
United States · Pershing County, Nevada
— 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.
32 km NE
Lovelock, Nevada
small town
5 km S
Humboldt Sink
dry lake basin
110 km W
Pyramid Lake
Paiute reservation lake
N
Lovelock Cave
Lovelock, Nevada
Humboldt Sink
Pyramid Lake
— common questions

What people ask.

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

It is a limestone rockshelter in Pershing County, Nevada, about twenty miles southwest of the town of Lovelock, on the edge of what was once Lake Lahontan and is now the Humboldt Sink.

The 1924 excavation by Harrington recovered basketry, sandals, and a cache of eleven woven tule duck decoys, along with stored grain, cordage, and human remains kept dry by the cave's interior.

The bulrush decoys have been radiocarbon dated to roughly 2,000 years before present, among the oldest known anywhere. Most are held by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.

The Humboldt Sink has been used by ancestors of the Northern Paiute for thousands of years. The Lovelock Paiute Tribe is the federally recognised community based in the town today.

Yes. The site is managed by the BLM Winnemucca District. A graded road runs out from Lovelock; the final approach is a short walk-in. There is no visitor centre and no fee.

The shelter sits well above the old lake level and the surrounding basin gets under five inches of rain a year. That dryness is what preserved organic material that would have rotted anywhere wetter.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. Lovelock Cave is part of the deep history of the Humboldt Valley, and the piece reads warmly for anyone connected to Pershing County or the Paiute community. A Small or Medium with a handwritten studio note carries well.

The desert palette holds beside Southwest-modern, warm minimalist, and earth-toned interiors. It sits comfortably with raw wood, leather, and rough plaster, and it does not fight a Navajo or Pendleton textile.

A single Large above a standard console reads as a focal piece. Above a full sofa, step up to a four-tile Mural or a nine-tile Mural for the desert horizon to open out properly.

Yes. Order the Dura Satin or Matte finish for backsplashes and shower walls. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so steam and splash will not lift it.

Microfibre cloth and water. Avoid abrasive cleaners and citrus solvents. The thin glossy finish on the wall-art versions wipes clean with the same care you'd give any framed print.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is made in our Knoxville studio under Reid Wender's eye. We do not license third-party imagery, and no two place compositions in the atlas repeat.

— if this one stayed with you

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