Living Large in Saratoga

The Platte Valley has long been home to artists of varying mediums. One such artist was Virginia Frederick Large, whose creations can still be found throughout the Valley.

Large's artwork still adorns the walls of the Carbon County School District No. 2 Central Office, the Doc Culleton Building at the Grand Encampment Museum and the Saratoga Presbyterian Church. On March 16, local historian Dick Perue presented the life and work of Large at the Saratoga Branch Library.

The program, narrated by Larry Cloyd, was sponsored by the Saratoga Friends of the Library. While Dick Perue presented the program, it began as a history project created by John Perue and his daughter, Mary.

Large was born in Portland, Oregon and grew up in Chicago, Illinois. Her art successes began with a drawing award at the age of 10. Later in life, she was awarded a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago where she studied, along with the American Academy of Art and the School of Sculpture.

Virginia first came to Saratoga in 1938 to spend the summer at the Cecil Ryan Ranch, where she spent her time sketching the homestead. She moved to Saratoga from Chicago in 1941 and married William Large that same year. The couple ranched on Cedar Creek for 30 years.

In 1950, Virginia's mother, Helen Frederick, opened the Frederick Gift Shop where Lollypop's is now on Bridge Avenue. Helen would sell Virginia's paintings in the gift shop and, through the gift shop, Virginia accepted students for art lessons.

Virginia used a building called the Cedar Ridge Trading Post as a studio. She would not only sell her paintings but also trade them for livestock, food, her husband's bar bill, a movie projector, a saddle horse, a dog, and more. Virginia once said, "I found it more fun to swap than to sell for cash."

Virginia signed her paintings VFrederick or VFrederick Large, going with an ambiguous or male sounding name to increase her sales. The number of her paintings is unknown but Dick Perue estimates it to be over 500.

In the late 1960s, Large was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This disease attacked her nervous system in such a way that her brain couldn't communicate with her body so she was unable to continue painting. The community raised money to buy Virginia a hospital bed while she was fighting this chronic disease. She passed away in 1982.

Virginia loved to paint the scenery and animals of the area, her favorite being horses. She had a naturalistic style of painting that focused on accuracy and authenticity. The beauty of the valley scenery came to life in Virginia's paintings.

The scenes she captured in her paintings won several awards and her work hangs in many Platte Valley residents and former residents' homes. Her paintings recorded the lives and times of the people of the Upper North Platte Valley and can still be found in the area today. [Let's give some detail on the painting at the CCSD2 Central Office as an example].

Her legacy lives on in her art