What is a Crankie? A crankie is a form of visual storytelling that uses a long, illustrated scroll of paper or fabric wound onto two spools, housed in a box with a viewing window. The scroll is advanced by hand-cranking the spools, allowing a storyteller to reveal a sequence of images, often while singing, telling a story, or playing music. Crankies were also known as moving panoramas in the 19th century and have seen a recent revival as a folk art form.
I’ve made Crankies for all sorts of musicians through the years(including myself). Such great collaborations with Daniel Peloquin-Hopfner, Stephen Fearing, Al Simmons, Coco Ray Stevenson and Kael Sauerborn, and Old Man Ludecke to name a handful.
I was also the crankie artist in residence one year for Winnipeg’s Crankie Festival. For that show I did a whole bunch of crankies and also led the ‘open crank’ which was a jame of sorts, people doing crankies of their own in front of the crowd.
A Crankie is a moving panorama, an old storytelling art form that was popular in the 18th century. Scrolled art is mounted on hand-cranked spindles held together in a frame. As music plays or a story is told, an artist cranks the spindles so that the picture moves with the story, creating a uniquely magical experience for the audience.
The Winnipeg Crankie Festival features musicians, writers, poets, and storytellers, as well as visual artists in dynamic cross-media collaborations with artists from Manitoba and beyond — all brought together by the humble Crankie.
The festival brings together the best in music, art, whimsy and story from Winnipeg’s musical, literary, dance and visual arts communities. It unites folks from all walks of life to participate on- and off-stage for an interactive and collaborative festival experience.
I’ve taught crankie workshops in St.Rose du Lac and in Winnipeg where students made their own crankies and performed them.
I’ve led groups at the Forum Art Centre and at the Winnipeg Folk Festival creating crankies in a group setting.
Here’s a couple crankies on my Youtube channel: