Crankie Island Song Project: Little Town in the Old County Down

The Crankie Island Song Project, led by 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 / An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Cathy and Peter have collaborated with artists and 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 paper illustration I’ve ever painted, with one metre of artwork scrolling per minute in sync with Cathy’s recording of the song.

The crankie box is a hand-cranked storytelling device dating back to the 19th century. As the handle turns, a long scroll of illustrations moves across the frame, revealing the song’s narrative in motion. It’s a beautiful blend of history, music and art, creating an intimate, almost dreamlike experience.

My piece was painted on textured Fabriano paper using watercolour, acrylic gouache, and water-based spray paint. It follows a red-haired Irish woman gazing out at a New York cityscape. As the song unfolds, the curtains of her window transform into the sea, carrying her into a dreamlike journey. She emerges with wings, holding onto a longing for home.

As the scroll continues, she grows younger, until she becomes a child, reaching toward her mother’s lips, their shared red hair acting as a thread through time. Surreal glimpses of the town weave through the piece, alongside motifs from the song, swallows and a black sheep.

The story softens into something more whimsical towards the end: fairies drift overhead, and one rides a black flying sheep into a soft pink and blue sky, led by a soaring swallow, a quiet return to a childlike, storybook world.

To present the illustration, I built a crankie box with my husband Iliocht’s help. It’s made from a reclaimed vintage picture frame in a hexagonal shape, a style often found in 1920s interiors. The wooden structure sits behind a plywood façade, with the frame acting as a window into the moving image.

I painted a harlequin pattern around the frame, echoing elements within the illustration while also nodding to a sense of theatre and spectacle. The scroll is mounted onto two pieces of an old wooden broom handle, allowing it to move from side to side. A simple hand-cranked mechanism, made with a drilled handle and a nail that you wind to brings the piece to life.

To finish, I added small silver filigree book corner details to the façade, a final decorative touch that ties the object together.

I’m so grateful to Cathy Jordan and Peter Crann for including me in this inspiring collaboration. You can explore the full collection of songs and illustrated works on the Crankie Island YouTube channel ✨💜