On and Off the Wall is a series of brief reflections on or about works in the collection, including those that may not often make an appearance on the gallery wall due to shortage of display space. Deborah Spanich is the museum registrar. She compiled the digital database and fell in love with many of the works in the collection.

We don’t often get to show works on paper in the museum. Most are in storage, including several by Judith Clancy. Clancy’s sketching style is simple, attentive, black ink against the white page. Her drawings look deeply at the world, and allow us to see it deeply as well. It almost seems a figure might make a subtle move or we could enter a scene and see around the corner. In fact, Clancy conducted workshops teaching “Drawing/Seeing.”

Clancy illustrated Peter Mayle’s books on Provence, portraits of places she loved. According to Peter Nicholson, “The soul seems to shine forth more clearly in a drawing.” The drawings show the soul of Judith Clancy. Have a look for yourself in the online catalog: Works in the collection by Judith Clancy.