Santa Ana NWR wetland
— the last thornforest, holding still.
Not only on a wall.
Santa Ana NWR wetland, 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.
“Santa Ana is a 2,088-acre remnant of the subtropical thornforest that once lined the Lower Rio Grande, set aside as a national wildlife refuge in 1943. More than four hundred bird species have been recorded on its trails — green jays, chachalacas, the rare hook-billed kite — along with ocelot and bobcat moving through the brush. The resaca wetlands hold water through the dry months. From the levee road you can see Mexico on the far bank, the same forest, the same birds. — from the studio
The place, in three passes.
Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge covers 2,088 acres along the north bank of the Rio Grande in Hidalgo County, about seven miles south of Alamo, Texas. It was established in 1943 to protect one of the last remnants of native Tamaulipan thornforest and resaca wetland habitat in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, where more than ninety-five percent of the original brushland has been cleared for agriculture. The refuge sits within the Central and Mississippi Flyways and is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the South Texas Refuge Complex.
More than four hundred bird species have been recorded inside the refuge, a count that makes it one of the most species-rich birding sites in the continental United States. Tropical species at the northern edge of their range — the green jay, the plain chachalaca, the great kiskadee, the altamira oriole — share the brush with rarities like the hook-billed kite and the northern jacana. Two federally listed cats, the ocelot and the jaguarundi, have been documented in the refuge, although they are very rarely seen. Spring and fall migration concentrate the diversity along the resaca edges.
The refuge has a visitor center off Highway 281 and roughly fourteen miles of walking trails through brush, wetland, and levee. The interior tram road is open to walkers and cyclists year-round; a guided tram ran for many seasons but check current operations before planning around it. There is a small entrance fee or a federal lands pass. Best months are November through April, when the heat lifts, migration peaks, and the resacas are full. Bring water, sun cover, and binoculars; mid-day in summer reaches well over a hundred degrees.
