Wender·Vista
Phoenicia village along Esopus Creek
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileNew York
in the central Catskills, along the Esopus Creek

Phoenicia village along Esopus Creek

— — a small main street and a fast green creek behind it.

— 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

“Phoenicia sits where Stony Clove Creek runs into the Esopus, in the middle of the Catskill Park in Ulster County. A short main street of clapboard buildings, a diner, a fly shop, and the creek running fast and green behind everything. On a summer Saturday, the inner tubes outnumber the cars; in October, the ridges around the village turn before the rest of the Catskills do. from the studio

from the studio
Phoenicia village along Esopus Creek
— bring it home

Phoenicia village along Esopus Creek, 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 Phoenicia village along Esopus Creek

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

Phoenicia is a hamlet in the Town of Shandaken, in Ulster County, New York, inside the boundary of the Catskill Park. The village sits at the confluence of the Stony Clove Creek and the Esopus Creek, at an elevation of roughly 801 feet, between Mount Tremper to the east and the ridge of Slide Mountain to the south. State Route 28 runs through it as the main road between Kingston and the central Catskill peaks, and the Esopus is the main stem of the upper watershed that feeds the Ashokan Reservoir downstream.

— the water

The Esopus Creek is one of the most heavily fished trout streams in the eastern United States, managed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation and stocked annually with brown and rainbow trout. The same creek runs the tubing season from late June through Labor Day, when local outfitters in Phoenicia float visitors down the slower reaches between the village and Mount Tremper. Below Phoenicia the Esopus runs into the Ashokan Reservoir, which has supplied New York City's drinking water since 1915.

— the season

The Catskills colour earlier and at higher elevation than the rest of New York. Around Phoenicia, sugar maple and red maple turn in early October, followed by the oaks and beeches a week or two later, with peak colour generally falling between the 5th and the 20th of the month. The ridges around the village — Mount Tremper, Romer Mountain, and the long shoulder of Tremper Mountain — frame the colour as a half-bowl above the Esopus, which is part of why the leaf-peeping traffic on Route 28 thickens every weekend in October.

— where
United States · Phoenicia, Town of Shandaken, Ulster County, New York
— within
Catskill Park
— elevation
244 m · 801 ft
— position
42.0823° N · 74.3146° 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.
5 km E
Mount Tremper
Catskill peak
18 km SE
Ashokan Reservoir
reservoir
12 km S
Slide Mountain
highest Catskill peak
20 km E
Woodstock
village
N
Phoenicia village along Esopus Creek
Mount Tremper
Ashokan Reservoir
Slide Mountain
Woodstock
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Phoenicia village along Esopus Creek — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

In the Town of Shandaken, Ulster County, New York, inside the Catskill Park. The hamlet sits along State Route 28 at the confluence of the Esopus Creek and the Stony Clove Creek, about 25 miles west of Kingston.

The Esopus Creek, joined just upstream by the Stony Clove Creek. The Esopus is the main stem of the upper Catskill watershed and runs east from the village into the Ashokan Reservoir, which supplies water to New York City.

Yes. Tubing operates from late June through Labor Day on the slower reaches of the Esopus between Phoenicia and Mount Tremper. Local outfitters in the village rent tubes and run a shuttle back upstream after the float.

Generally between the 5th and 20th of October, with sugar maples turning first, followed by oak and beech a week or two later. The Catskills colour earlier than the rest of New York because of elevation.

Yes. Phoenicia lies within the boundary of the Catskill Park, the 700,000-acre area designated by New York State in 1885 that combines public Forest Preserve lands with private inholdings under unified land-use rules.

Slide Mountain, the highest peak in the Catskills at 4,180 feet, sits about 12 km south of Phoenicia. The closer peaks framing the village are Mount Tremper to the east and Romer Mountain to the north.

— about the piece in your home

It has been a meaningful gift for our customers who have a cabin in the Catskills, grew up around Phoenicia, or float the Esopus every summer. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries that particular green water and ridge light.

The creek greens and ridge-October tones of the artwork sit well in Mountain-modern, Catskills-traditional, and Cabin-warm rooms. It also reads cleanly against pine paneling, a soft slate wall, or pale plaster.

Yes. Mountain-modern has moved past generic forest motifs toward specific, named places. A tile of a particular Catskill village and its creek reads as considered rather than decorative, which is where the trend has gone.

Above a standard sofa, a single Large reads well centered, or a 4-tile Mural for more presence. Above a long console table or a stone mantel, a 9-tile Mural in a 3 by 3 grid gives the village and the ridge the room they ask for.

Yes, with the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and well suited to vertical installation in showers, backsplashes, or above a bath. The Glossy finish is reserved for framed wall pieces in dry rooms.

A soft microfibre cloth and clean water. No solvents, no abrasive pads. The colour lives in the ceramic surface beneath a thin glossy finish, so household dust and splashes wipe away without affecting the artwork.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original to Wender Studios, painted in our distinctive stained-glass and alcohol-ink visual language, with no third-party licensing. Reid Wender curates the atlas and signs off on every place we paint.

— if this one stayed with you

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