Crankie Island Song Project:

Little Old Town in the Old County Down, 2024

The Crankie Island Song Project, led by the talented singer Cathy Jordan and artistic director Peter Crann, is a captivating initiative that brings traditional Irish songs to life through visual storytelling. With support from the Arts Council of Ireland, Cathy and Peter have worked with illustrators to create 32 unique videos, each representing a county in Ireland. I was honoured to illustrate the song "Little Old Town in the Old County Down" for County Down, creating the longest piece I’ve ever painted, with one meter of artwork scrolling per minute in sync with Cathy’s new recording of the song.

The Crankie Box is a fascinating, hand-cranked storytelling device dating back to the 19th century. As the box is cranked, a long scroll of illustrations unfolds, drawing viewers into the song’s narrative. It’s a charming blend of history, music and art that creates an intimate, almost dream-like experience.

My piece was painted on textured Fabriano paper using a mix of watercolour, acrylic gouache and water-based acrylic spray paint. It illustrates a melodic emigration song from the 1920s, following a red-haired Irish woman as she gazes out onto a New York Cityscape. As the song unfolds, the curtains in her window transform into the sea, and she emerges with wings, a dream of returning to beloved Ireland. The imagery takes on a dreamlike quality as the woman grows younger, eventually depicted as a child touching her mother’s lips, both with matching red hair. Surreal scenes of the town intersperse the figure and motifs of the song, swallows and a black sheep. The whimsical progression of the scroll concludes with fairies flying overhead and a fairy riding a black flying sheep into a soft pink and blue sky lead by a soaring swallow, evoking a childlike, storybook charm.

To present this illustration, I built a unique crankie box with my husband Iliocht’s help. The box is crafted from a reclaimed vintage picture frame in a hexagonal shape, a popular design in 1920s interiors. The structure is made from wood attached to the back of a plywood façade, with the frame serving as a window to the illustration. I painted a harlequin pattern around the frame, which echoes an element in the illustration while also nodding to a carnival or circus spectacle. The scroll illustration is mounted on two pieces of an old wooden broom handle, allowing it to scroll from side to side. Holes were drilled into the top of the wooden frame to support the turning mechanism and a small hole in one of the handles accommodates a large nail to create a lever for cranking the scroll. To add an elegant touch, I glued some silver filigree book corner charms onto the corners of the box's plywood façade.

I’m so grateful to Cathy Jordan and Peter Crann for including me in this inspiring collaboration. You can watch many other beautiful Irish songs and illustrations, on the Crankie Island YouTube channel.