During my graduate school thesis work and at Minneapolis Crankie Fest, I fell in love with crankies. The energy crankie performances create is something I’ve never seen anywhere else. How this old art form creates such space for community is something precious. When I moved back to Indiana, I wanted to celebrate this art with my community. So I created We’re Crankie, a community group teaching and creating crankies. With a goal to host a crankie festival featuring work from artists in Indiana and beyond, and community made scrolls. Our first ever We’re Crankie: Crankie Festival will be on April 18, 2026, from 1 to 3 pm. For more information on We’re Crankie, check out the official website at https://blackwellemart.wixsite.com/crankie

What are crankies? - They were created in Japan as 11th-century scroll paintings. As this art form spread across the world, its form and name changed many times in the 19th century to moving panoramas. In the 1960s, Peter Schumann invented the term "cranky". This led to the current name of cranky/ crankie. A crankie is a form of storytelling. Using a box with dowel rods to attach and crank (turn) a scroll. Usually accompanied by music or poetry, with the imagery on the scroll. A scroll can be as long as the artist wants. The box of a crankie can range in size from a matchbox to as large as you can imagine. There are crankie festivals all across the world!