I recently attended a Partners For Education sponsored workshop, led by two area teaching artists, on how to make a “crankie”.

The miniature “crankie” I made at the March workshop in London, KY.

A crankie is a visual storytelling device, typically used to enhance music, spoken word, or storytelling.  The story is visually told on a scroll of paper or cloth, frame by frame, and a performer turns a handle to advance it (in this case they are lollipop sticks). Some crankies are large and elaborate, with a crank to advance the scroll. Thus the name “crankie”.

The workshop was so informative, so much fun — and so much a part of my art impetus towards narrative — that I decided to share this activity with the LexEngaged students from the University of Kentucky, and the kidz at William Wells Brown in Lexington on Wednesday, April 12, 2017.