Wender·Vista
Whidbey Island
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileUnited States
in the Salish Sea, north of Seattle

Whidbey Island

— — the grey the strait keeps after the fog lifts.

— 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 long island laid north to south in Puget Sound, reached by ferry from Mukilteo or by the green span of the Deception Pass bridge. Madrona trees lean out over the bluff at Ebey's Landing. In spring the grey whales come up the strait on their way to Alaska, close enough from shore that nobody on the bluff says much.

from the studio
Whidbey Island
— bring it home

Whidbey Island, 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 Whidbey Island

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

Whidbey is the largest of the islands inside Washington's Puget Sound, running roughly 55 miles from Deception Pass at the north end to Clinton at the south. It sits in Island County and is reached by the Washington State Ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton in about twenty minutes, or by the two steel arches of the Deception Pass Bridge, opened in 1935 and spanning a tidal channel above Pass Lake. Coupeville, on Penn Cove, was founded in 1853 and is one of the oldest towns in the state.

— the air

The light on Whidbey belongs to the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, which keeps the island drier than Seattle across the water. Penn Cove fog comes in low off the eelgrass beds and burns off by mid-morning, leaving the grey-green water and the darker green of the Douglas firs along the bluff at Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve. The reserve, designated by Congress in 1978, was the first of its kind in the country and holds a working agricultural landscape of nineteenth-century farmsteads.

— informed by Ebey's Landing NHR
— the season

Grey whales pass close to the west shore of Whidbey from March through May on their northern migration from Baja California to the Bering Sea. A small resident group, the Sounders, has been returning to Saratoga Passage each spring since the 1990s to feed on ghost shrimp in the tidal flats off Hat Island. Penn Cove mussels, harvested commercially since 1975, are at their best in the cold months. The MusselFest in Coupeville falls the first weekend of March each year.

— informed by Cascadia Research
— where
United States · Island County, Washington
— position
48.1500° N · 122.6500° 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.
30 km N
Deception Pass State Park
state park
at the lake
Coupeville
historic town
15 km W
Port Townsend
harbour town
N
Whidbey Island
Deception Pass State Park
Coupeville
Port Townsend
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Whidbey Island — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Whidbey lies in the Salish Sea about thirty miles north of Seattle, inside Island County, Washington. It is reached by the Mukilteo to Clinton ferry or by the Deception Pass Bridge at the north end.

The island runs roughly 55 miles end to end, from Deception Pass in the north to Clinton at the south. It is one of the longest islands in the contiguous United States by some measures.

Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve, established in 1978, preserves a working agricultural landscape near Coupeville. It was the first national historical reserve in the United States and still holds nineteenth-century farms in operation.

Yes. Grey whales pass the west shore March through May on their migration north. A small group called the Sounders returns each spring to feed in Saratoga Passage off the east side.

Penn Cove, the deep inlet at Coupeville, has produced commercially farmed mussels since 1975. The Coupeville MusselFest is held the first weekend of March, when the cold-water harvest is at its best.

The two steel arches of the Deception Pass Bridge were completed in 1935, connecting Whidbey to Fidalgo Island over a narrow tidal channel. The bridge stands 180 feet above the water at high tide.

— about the piece in your home

Many of our customers have given this piece to family with roots on the island. The light over Penn Cove and the bluff at Ebey's Landing read as home to people from Coupeville and Langley. A Small with a handwritten note carries well.

The greys and dark greens settle into Pacific Northwest interiors, Coastal-modern rooms, and Cabin-modern spaces with cedar and wool. It also reads well in a Japandi room where the palette stays muted.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original to our single studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. The work is not licensed from any outside artist and is hand-finished in-house before it ships.

Above a standard sofa, a single Large is the usual choice. Over a longer console or a wider wall, a four-tile Mural holds the room. The nine-tile Mural is for the larger formal wall.

Yes. For a bathroom, kitchen backsplash, or any vertical install near steam or water, choose the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and hold up to daily wiping with a damp cloth.

A soft microfibre cloth and clean water are all the tile needs. The colour is held inside the ceramic surface beneath a thin protective finish, so household cleaners and abrasives are not required and should be avoided.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

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