Wender·Vista
Curt Gowdy State Park granite
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileWyoming
between Cheyenne and Laramie, in the Laramie Range

Curt Gowdy State Park granite

— — granite that remembers being a sea floor.

— 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

“Pink and grey granite shoulders rise out of the high prairie between Cheyenne and Laramie, holding three reservoirs and the quiet that belongs to wind. The rock is older than almost anything else exposed in Wyoming. Hynds Lodge still stands at the south end, built of the same stone the climbers warm their hands against in the afternoon. from the studio

from the studio
Curt Gowdy State Park granite
— bring it home

Curt Gowdy State Park granite, 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 Curt Gowdy State Park granite

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

Curt Gowdy State Park sits in the Laramie Range about halfway between Cheyenne and Laramie, on roughly 3,400 acres at an elevation near 7,200 feet. The park holds Granite, Crystal, and North Crow Reservoirs, which supply water to Cheyenne, and was named in 1971 for the Wyoming-born sportscaster Curt Gowdy. The CCC-built Hynds Lodge, finished in 1923 of local stone, anchors the south end. The granite belongs to the Sherman batholith, a body of 1.4-billion-year-old rock among the oldest exposed in the state.

— the stone

The pink-and-grey rock is Sherman granite, a coarse-grained batholith intruded about 1.4 billion years ago and slowly exhumed by erosion of the overlying sediments. Feldspar gives it the pink; quartz and biotite carry the grey and the glint. The same body forms the Vedauwoo rocks visible from Interstate 80 a few miles south. Climbers come for the friction and the rounded summits; the park lists more than thirty named formations across its trail system, including Stone Temple Pilots and Reynolds Hill.

— the visit

The park is open year-round, with a daily use fee for non-residents and developed campsites at Aspen Grove and Red Buttes. More than 35 miles of singletrack are signed for hiking, biking, and horse use, and the trail system earned International Mountain Bicycling Association Epic designation in 2010, one of the few in the central Rockies. The three reservoirs are stocked with rainbow and brown trout. Hynds Lodge can be reserved through Wyoming State Parks for day events.

— where
United States · Albany and Laramie Counties, Wyoming
— within
Curt Gowdy State Park
— elevation
2,195 m · 7,200 ft
— position
41.1839° N · 105.2289° 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.
16 km S
Vedauwoo
granite climbing area
38 km E
Cheyenne
state capital
38 km W
Laramie
university town
N
Curt Gowdy State Park granite
Vedauwoo
Cheyenne
Laramie
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Curt Gowdy State Park granite — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

In southeast Wyoming, in the Laramie Range about halfway between Cheyenne and Laramie along State Highway 210. The park sits at roughly 7,200 feet in elevation across about 3,400 acres.

Curt Gowdy was a Wyoming-born sportscaster who called Boston Red Sox games and hosted The American Sportsman. The park was named for him in 1971, after a career closely tied to fishing and the outdoors.

The Sherman granite was intruded about 1.4 billion years ago, among the oldest rock exposed in Wyoming. The same batholith forms the rounded outcrops at Vedauwoo a few miles south.

Granite, Crystal, and North Crow Reservoirs supply drinking water to Cheyenne and are stocked with rainbow and brown trout. Granite is the largest and most central to the park's trail network.

Yes. The trail system, more than 35 miles of signed singletrack, earned International Mountain Bicycling Association Epic designation in 2010, one of only a handful of Epics in the central Rockies.

Hynds Lodge was completed in 1923 of local Sherman granite and is reservable through Wyoming State Parks for day events. The exterior can be seen anytime from the south-end trailheads.

— about the piece in your home

It travels well as a gift for people who grew up in southeast Wyoming. Curt Gowdy is the weekend park for both towns, and the granite reads instantly to anyone who has climbed or fished there.

The pink-grey rock and prairie sky carry well in Mountain-modern, warm Minimalist, and Western-modern rooms. The colour stays earthy rather than bright, so it sits beside oak, leather, and wool.

Yes. Mountain-modern leans on real regional stone and quiet palettes, and Sherman granite gives both. The piece reads as place rather than decoration, which is the whole move.

Above a standard sofa, a single Large reads cleanly; a 4-tile Mural fills a wider wall with breathing room. Above a console, a Medium or a Coaster Set framed as a quartet sits at the right scale.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and handle the humidity of a bath or the splash zone behind a kitchen sink. Glossy is best kept to dry walls.

A microfibre cloth with water is enough. Avoid abrasive sponges and ammonia-based sprays. The colour lives in the ceramic surface, so it will not lift with ordinary cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is created in-house by Reid Wender as the curator and hand-finished by the studio. No licensed images, no third-party art on the catalog.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.