Hand-cranked illustrated songs and stories combining folk art, music and poetry.

Photo by Festival Of Friendship

Ellen, musician and inexperienced visual artists, completed her first illustrated scroll in 2012; since 2013 she has led crankie-making workshops in her neighborhood and at festivals in Pennsylvania and West Virginia; in 2016 she produced and hosted Pittsburgh's inaugural Crankie Fest.

Her paper mosaic scroll Pretty Fair Miss was included in an exhibit at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry in Storrs, CT, and in the 3rd Annual Baltimore Crankie Fest. She incorporates crankies into her solo performances and during intimate concerts with The Early Mays.

If you're interested in crankie workshops and performances,
please get in touch!

For all you ever wanted to know about crankies, please visit TheCrankieFactory.com.

PITTSBURGH
CRANKIE FEST 
RETURNS
THIS FALL!
14TH NOV 2026
Saturday Night
First Unitarian Church
​More Info Coming Soon