Pickwick Reservoir
— a working river, paused.
Not only on a wall.
Pickwick Reservoir, 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.
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.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
“Pickwick Reservoir is the impoundment behind Pickwick Landing Dam, completed by the TVA in 1938. It holds back 43,100 acres of the Tennessee River across the corners of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. The dam's generating units move roughly 240 megawatts; a single navigation lock carries barges through. On the Mississippi side, Tishomingo State Park and the Bear Creek arm reach into the upper pool. from the studio
The place, in three passes.
Pickwick Reservoir is a 43,100-acre impoundment of the Tennessee River, formed by Pickwick Landing Dam in Hardin County, Tennessee. The Tennessee Valley Authority completed the dam in 1938. The reservoir extends about 53 miles upstream and reaches into Tishomingo County, Mississippi, and Colbert County, Alabama. The dam carries a single main navigation lock (110 feet by 1,000 feet) and a powerhouse with installed capacity around 240 megawatts. Tishomingo State Park borders the Mississippi shore; Bear Creek enters the reservoir from the east.
The reservoir holds the Tennessee River at 414 feet above sea level at full pool, with seasonal drawdown of a few feet through winter. Water clarity runs higher than most southern impoundments because the upstream tributaries drain limestone country. The reservoir supports a nationally regarded smallmouth-bass fishery; tailwater fishing immediately below the dam is among the best on the river. Mussel diversity here is among the highest in the Tennessee River system, with several federally listed species present.
The reservoir's Mississippi shore runs along the edge of the Cumberland Plateau's western outliers: Pennsylvanian sandstone over Mississippian limestone. Tishomingo State Park preserves these outcrops through ridges, hardwood slopes, and the Bear Creek canyon. The Civilian Conservation Corps built a swinging bridge over Bear Creek in 1939 that still spans the gorge. The dam itself is built on limestone bedrock; the powerhouse and lock structures sit on a foundation that was extensively grouted during construction.
