Snowshoe hare on Mount Mansfield in winter

shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileVermont

high on Vermont's tallest peak, in deep winter

Snowshoe hare on Mount Mansfield in winter

Name: Snowshoe hare on Mount Mansfield in winter — on ceramic tile, by WenderVista
Brand: WenderVista

— — a coat that finds the snow before the snow arrives.

— 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

— 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 white hare on the boreal slope of Vermont's highest summit. The snowshoe hare turns white through October as daylight shortens. Its outsized hind feet keep it on top of soft snow that swallows a fox. It feeds on conifer twigs and bark below the tree line, leaving a stitched track between balsam fir and red spruce. Lynx have not lived here in a hundred years; the main predator now is the bobcat.

from the studio

— bring it home

Snowshoe hare on Mount Mansfield in winter, 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 Snowshoe hare on Mount Mansfield in winter

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

Mount Mansfield is the highest peak in Vermont at 4,395 feet, part of the Green Mountain spine in Lamoille and Chittenden Counties. Its summit ridge holds the only true alpine tundra in the state, with subalpine boreal forest of balsam fir and red spruce below the krummholz line. The mountain is protected within Mount Mansfield State Forest, with trails maintained by the Green Mountain Club along the Long Trail. The University of Vermont's Proctor Maple Research Center sits on its lower flank. Stowe lies to the east, Underhill to the west.

— informed by Wikipedia — Mount Mansfield

— the air

Winter on Mansfield's upper slopes runs from November through April, with the summit averaging below freezing for half the year. Wind chill on the ridge regularly exceeds the National Weather Service's wind chill warning threshold. The boreal forest below the summit cone holds the hare's range, where balsam fir provides cover and food. Average snow depth at 3,000 feet exceeds three feet in midwinter. The Mount Mansfield Stake plot, monitored by the University of Vermont since 1954, holds one of the longest continuous snow-depth records in New England.

— informed by UVM — Mount Mansfield Snow Stake

— the season

The snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) molts to white in autumn as daylight drops below about twelve hours, a switch triggered by photoperiod rather than temperature. The molt takes roughly ten weeks. Climate warming has shortened the snow season at lower Vermont elevations, leaving the hare visibly white against bare ground for stretches each November and April, a mismatch documented in studies from the University of Montana's Wildlife Biology Program. Mansfield's elevation buys the hare more matched days than most of the state, but the trend runs against it.

— informed by Wikipedia — Snowshoe hare

— where

United States · Mount Mansfield State Forest, Lamoille and Chittenden Counties, Vermont

— within

Mount Mansfield State Forest

— elevation

1,340 m · 4,395 ft

— position

44.5436° N · 72.8147° 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.

3 km N

Smugglers' Notch

mountain pass

10 km E

Stowe village

Vermont village

4 km W

Underhill State Park

state park

4 km N

Sterling Pond

alpine pond

Snowshoe hare on Mount Mansfield in winter

Smugglers' Notch

Stowe village

Underhill State Park

Sterling Pond

— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Snowshoe hare on Mount Mansfield in winter — and about bringing the piece home.

— about the place

Photoperiod, the shortening day length of autumn, triggers a molt to a white winter coat over about ten weeks. The switch is independent of temperature or actual snow cover, which is why climate change is mismatching the timing.

Its hind feet are oversized and splay wide, distributing weight across soft snow that a fox or coyote would punch through. The track is distinctive: two long oval prints in front of two smaller ones, paired.

Conifer needles and bark, twigs of birch and aspen, and the buds of balsam fir. It feeds at dusk and through the night, sheltering by day under low spruce boughs near the ground.

4,395 feet, the highest summit in Vermont. The exposed ridge runs roughly two miles north to south and is the only true alpine tundra in the state, with rare arctic plants on the summit cap.

Snowshoe hare share the boreal slope with red squirrel, white-tailed deer at the lower margin, ruffed grouse, and the bobcat that hunts them. Canada lynx, the hare's historical predator, has not been resident in Vermont in roughly a century.

Tracks are easy to find on any winter trail above 2,500 feet. The hare itself is mostly nocturnal and crypsis is the point of the white coat. Dawn and dusk give the best chance for a sighting.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. The hare reads as the quieter side of Vermont's mountain, away from the summit selfies. For a hiker who knows the Long Trail above Underhill or the Sunset Ridge route, the tile names a winter most visitors never see.

The piece works in cabin-modern, Scandinavian, and warm-minimalist rooms. The white-on-spruce palette reads well against unpainted pine, raw wool, and matte black hardware over a clean wood floor.

Yes. Biophilic design leans on a single, specific living subject rather than generic nature motifs. A named species in a real place anchors a room more cleanly than a stylized leaf or feather.

A single Large carries a console of about six feet. Above a sofa, a four-tile Mural fills the proportion; the nine-tile Mural suits a longer wall or the head of a stairwell.

Yes, with the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both resist humidity and abrasion. Keep the Glossy for drier walls where the sheen does the work without competing with steam.

A microfibre cloth, dry or barely damp with water. No abrasive sprays, no ammonia. The colour lives in the ceramic surface and will not lift over time.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted in our studio, with no licensing in or out. Reid Wender chooses each place that enters the atlas, by hand.

— if this one stayed with you