Virginia Chism Darce Applehill Spring

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Virginia Chism Darce 1910 - 1985

Signature and date ... This painting was trimmed unevenly when we acquired it, and is displayed floated onto a maroon matt to preserve the signature and date.	"Spring Landscape " 1944 Watercolor 15 x 19 1/2 $1,800
Virginia Chism Darce was a watercolorist and active in the Spokane, Washington area. She contributed murals, stained glass murals, and mosaics at the historic Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, Oregon, built by the WPA in 1936 and 1937. Virginia's famed Paul Bunyan Mural was featured in the concluding episode of the PBS series, Lodges of the Pacific Northwest, which visits historic lodges at Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, Oregon Caves, and Crater Lake. Further down this page are photos of her Timberline Lodge artwork and a shot of Virginia and her assistants working on the mural. Read More	Timberline Lodge, Mount Hood, Oregon

Virginia Darce creating Paul Bunyun Mural

Virginia Darce Mosaic Timberline Lodge Mt Hood Oregon

More of Virginia Darce's Timberline Lodge work can be seen at

http://www.historic-hotels lodges.com/timberline-lodge.htm
Source: Davenports, and the linked site above.

We wish to learn more of Virginia Darce. If you have additional information, please contact us.

In the summer of 2016, Linda and I
visited Oregon's Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood.
We wrote about our visit in our August Newsletter, 2016

Virginia Darce with assistants working on the Timberline Lodge's Paul Bunyun mural	WPA Artist Virginia Darce and her Glass Mosaic at Mount Hood's Timberline Lodge
	In 1937, 27 year-old Virginia Darce was given an opportunity to create a Paul Bunyun mosaic mural for a bar in the WPA's Timberline Lodge, located on the snowy slopes of Oregon's Mount Hood. At the time, Virginia probably gave no thought that 80 years hence, people would enter the Blue Ox Bar and marvel at her work. Like other WPA artists during the height of the Great Depression, she was pleased to have the work.
		Working inside the Blue Ox Bar, Virginia fits glass pieces onto the mural.
	Virginia Darce Signature Paul Bunyan Mural
Virginia had some experience working with glass. Virginia worked for the Fuller Glass Company of Portland. Previously she had done a 70 foot long mural for the Oregon City Library. When it came to creating a stained glass design for the Blue Ox Bar, she decided to do a mosaic in a technique called "opus sectile," used often in medieval and ancient mosaics where materials were cut into large irregular pieces and made into a picture. This technique is easily distinguished from the more familiar tessellated designs made of uniformly small pieces.
The famous Paul Bunyan Mural by Virginia Darce located in the Blue Ox Bar at the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood in Oregon. It was done in 1938 as part of the WPA.
Paul Bunyan Portrait in Glass Side wall, Blue Ox Bar, Timberline Lodge	Cave like entrance to the Timberline Lodge's Blue Ox Bar	Paul Bunyan and his Baby Blue Ox Side wall, Blue Ox Bar, Timberline Lodge
	The very bright and bold colors chosen by Virginia's for her mural really enlivened the small cave like space given for the Blue Ox Bar, noted by the rich blue of Babe the Blue Ox and the blazingly orange squares in Paul Bunyun's large flannel checker boarded shirt.
		Since the Blue Ox Bar opened for business, it isn't too difficult to imagine generations of Oregonians enjoying a pint or two while admiring Virginia's work after a day on Mount Hood's slopes. After the Mount Hood project, Virginia lived in Portland where she was manager for the Skidmore Fountain Artist Association. After the war, she was active in the Los Angeles area.
WPA era painting, Waterfront, 1938 by Virginia Darce Fine Arts Program, Gen. Services Administration	WPA era painting, The Market 1938 by Virginia Darce Fine Arts Program, Gen. Services Administration
		The Timberline Lodge today.
A History of the Art of the Timberline Lodge, You may fast forward to Virginia Darce's mural, featured at 15:28 into this video.		Spring Landscape 1944, Virginia Darce currently on view and available for sale at Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery, California Women Artists Exhibition
Virginia Darce's page on our site \| the Timberline Lodge \| Friends of the Timberline \| Back to the Top