Wender·Vista
Petrified Forest National Park
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileUnited States
in northeastern Arizona, along old Route 66

Petrified Forest National Park

— — a forest that turned to stone.

— 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 high desert in northeastern Arizona where 225-million-year-old conifers lie scattered across the badlands, the wood replaced cell by cell with quartz that holds the colour of agate. The park runs from the Painted Desert in the north to the Rainbow Forest in the south. Most visitors drive the 28-mile road in a morning and leave quieter than they came.

from the studio
Petrified Forest National Park
— bring it home

Petrified Forest National Park, 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 Petrified Forest National Park

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

Petrified Forest National Park stretches across roughly 221,000 acres of Apache and Navajo counties in northeastern Arizona, straddling Interstate 40 between Holbrook and the New Mexico line. The land sits at around 5,400 feet, a high desert of mudstone hills and short grasses. Theodore Roosevelt designated it a national monument in 1906 to halt the wholesale removal of petrified wood; Congress promoted it to national park status in 1962. The park is the only unit of the National Park System to protect a section of historic Route 66.

— the stone

The fossil logs date to the Late Triassic, about 218 to 227 million years ago, when this corner of Pangaea sat near the equator and Araucarioxylon arizonicum trees the height of redwoods fell into a floodplain. Volcanic silica-rich groundwater seeped through the buried wood and replaced the cellulose, cell by cell, with quartz. Iron, manganese, and other trace minerals stained the crystals red, ochre, lavender, and black. The Rainbow Forest concentrates the most colour-saturated specimens; the Crystal Forest holds whole logs broken into segments along the original growth rings.

— informed by NPS — Petrified Wood
— the visit

The park stays open through every season, though winter brings snow at this elevation and summer afternoons stack thunderheads over the Painted Desert. A single 28-mile road connects the north entrance near Interstate 40 with the south entrance on US Route 180. Gates close at dusk and the park does not permit overnight stays inside its boundaries. The standard fee admits a vehicle for seven days. Removing petrified wood is a federal offence; rangers ask that even the smallest chip stay where it lies, and the park loses about a ton of wood a year to pockets.

— informed by NPS — Plan Your Visit
— where
United States · Apache and Navajo Counties, Arizona
— within
Petrified Forest National Park
— elevation
1,670 m · 5,400 ft
— position
34.9100° N · 109.8100° 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.
5 km N
Painted Desert
desert badlands
40 km W
Holbrook
Route 66 town
90 km W
Winslow
Route 66 town
150 km NE
Canyon de Chelly National Monument
national monument
N
Petrified Forest National Park
Painted Desert
Holbrook
Winslow
Canyon de Chelly National Monument
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Petrified Forest National Park — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

The park lies in northeastern Arizona, straddling Interstate 40 between the towns of Holbrook and Sanders, in Apache and Navajo counties. It sits at about 5,400 feet elevation on the Colorado Plateau.

The logs are roughly 218 to 227 million years old, dating to the Late Triassic. The original conifers, mostly Araucarioxylon arizonicum, were buried in a floodplain and slowly replaced by quartz drawn from volcanic ash.

Trace minerals carried by groundwater stained the quartz as it crystallised in the wood. Iron oxide reads red and yellow, manganese produces purple and black, and pure silica leaves the white and grey bands.

Theodore Roosevelt set aside the area as Petrified Forest National Monument in 1906. Congress raised it to national park status on December 9, 1962, and the wilderness area was added in 1970.

No. Taking wood from inside the park is a federal offence carrying a fine. Souvenir pieces sold at the visitor centres come from private land outside the boundary and are legal to buy and keep.

The Painted Desert is a band of layered mudstone and clay running across northern Arizona; the park protects its southern reach. The colours come from iron and manganese in the Chinle Formation, the same beds that hold the fossil logs.

— about the piece in your home

It suits someone who has driven the park road and stopped at the Crystal Forest. The artwork lifts the agate colours of the wood into a piece they can keep. A Medium or Large reads from across a room.

The deep reds, ochres, and lavenders sit well in Southwestern, desert-modern, and warm Mid-century interiors. The stained-glass treatment also reads in Jewel-tone Maximalist rooms where colour does the talking.

A single Large covers a console; for a sofa, a 4-tile or 9-tile Mural carries the wall. The Medium suits a reading nook or an entry, and the Coaster Set scales the colour down to a side table.

Yes. Order it in Dura Satin or Matte for vertical installations where water and steam are factors. The Glossy finish is meant for framed wall art and dry display surfaces.

A soft microfibre cloth and water handle daily dust and fingerprints. For stuck residue on a Dura Satin or Matte tile, a drop of mild dish soap is fine; avoid abrasive pads and citrus solvents.

Yes. Reid Wender curates and paints every piece in the WenderVista atlas from the Knoxville studio; the work is not licensed in or sold to outside catalogues, and each tile is hand-finished in-house.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

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