Web experience · Digital archive
The W.W. Handy Archive
A family-led digital archive preserving and presenting 21 paintings by self-taught artist Walter McRoy through spatial, interactive experiences.
Challenge
An archive should preserve more than image files.
Walter McRoy’s paintings carry family memory, texture, scale, and relationships across a body of work. A conventional gallery grid would catalogue the collection, but flatten the feeling of encountering it.
Response
A digital place to move through the work.
The archive presents 21 paintings through a tactile Studio carousel, a spatial Constellation, and focused artwork views whose atmosphere responds to each piece. Inquiry and high-resolution media handling sit quietly behind the experience.
Studio
A tactile, horizontal cover-flow experience designed for mouse, touch, and keyboard.
Constellation
A spatial artwork network that turns the collection into an explorable world.
Artwork atmosphere
Focused views borrow color and light from each painting without competing with it.
Archive pipeline
Responsive imagery, originals, and inquiry tools support preservation and access.
Where it stands
A living archive that feels personal, not institutional.
The collection is available across desktop and mobile through multiple modes of discovery, preserving the work while giving every painting room to hold attention.
Visit the archive