Wender·Vista
Worland Painted Hills
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileWyoming
in the Bighorn Basin, east of Worland

Worland Painted Hills

— — the colour the badlands keep under the sage.

— 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

“East of Worland the Bighorn Basin opens into low banded hills — red, rust, ash, and pale clay layered in the Willwood and Wind River formations. They are Eocene river sediments, exposed by the wind and the seasonal rain. Sage holds the flats between them. The light is best an hour before sunset, when the reds turn one shade warmer and the shadows finally find an edge. — from the studio

from the studio
Worland Painted Hills
— bring it home

Worland Painted Hills, 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 Worland Painted Hills

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

Worland sits on the Bighorn River at about 4,061 feet, the seat of Washakie County in the central Bighorn Basin. The basin is a structural lowland ringed by the Bighorn Mountains to the east, the Owl Creek and Bridger ranges to the south, and the Absarokas to the west. The painted layers around Worland belong to the Willwood and Wind River formations, Eocene-age river and floodplain sediments that drape the basin floor in red, white, and gray bands.

— the colour

The red and rust bands come from iron-rich paleosols — ancient soils, oxidised over millions of years and then re-exposed by the basin's dry erosion. The pale gray and white bands are volcanic ash from eruptions to the west, laid down between flood events. Eocene mammal fossils have been collected from the Willwood for more than a century; the formation is one of the reference sections for early-Cenozoic mammal evolution in North America.

— the light

The basin sits in a rain shadow east of the Absarokas and averages fewer than ten inches of precipitation a year. The air is dry; the shadows are sharp. The painted bands read flat at noon and deepen as the sun lowers — the reds warm, the whites cool. Late afternoon in spring and early autumn is the working light. In winter, low snow on the sage makes a different picture.

— where
United States · Washakie County, Wyoming
— position
44.0166° N · 107.9553° 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 W
Worland
town
40 km E
Ten Sleep
village
60 km E
Bighorn National Forest
national forest
N
Worland Painted Hills
Worland
Ten Sleep
Bighorn National Forest
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Worland Painted Hills — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

East and northeast of Worland, in the central Bighorn Basin of Washakie County, Wyoming. The colourful bands are exposed on low hills and bluffs along the basin floor toward the foot of the Bighorn Mountains.

Iron-rich ancient soils oxidised to red and rust, layered with pale volcanic ash from Eocene eruptions to the west. The bands belong primarily to the Willwood Formation, about 55 million years old.

Very dry. The Bighorn Basin sits in the rain shadow of the Absaroka Range and averages under ten inches of precipitation a year. That dryness keeps the painted layers exposed rather than overgrown.

Worland, on the Bighorn River at about 4,061 feet. It is the Washakie County seat and the practical base for driving the back roads east toward Ten Sleep and the Bighorn Mountains.

Yes. The Willwood Formation is one of the world's reference sections for early-Cenozoic mammals. Paleontologists have collected from these badlands since the late nineteenth century.

Late afternoon in spring and early autumn. The reds warm an hour before sunset and the shadows finally cut. At noon the bands flatten into a single mid-tone.

— about the piece in your home

It carries well for that recipient. The basin is a quiet, specific Wyoming — not the Tetons, not Yellowstone — and a piece tied to its painted ground reads as recognition rather than tourism.

Southwest-modern rooms, desert-modern interiors, and warm earth-tone palettes. The red-and-clay banding also sits well alongside leather, walnut, and woven textiles in Mountain-modern spaces.

Yes. The current direction in interiors leans warm and grounded — terracotta, oxidised reds, clay whites. A WenderVista piece in the Worland palette reads as informed and specific.

Above a standard sofa, a single Large or a four-tile Mural carries the wall. Above a console, the Medium is usually right. For a great-room or stair landing, a nine-tile Mural holds the room.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and rated for vertical installation in showers and backsplashes. The colour will not lift with cleaning.

A soft microfibre cloth and water. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, beneath a thin glossy finish, so household cleaning does not affect it.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original to the studio and is not licensed from any third party. Reid Wender is the curator and chooses every place that enters the atlas.

— if this one stayed with you

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