Artist Jessica C. White Demonstrates 'Crankie' Book Art and Its Ties to Song and Place

Jessica C. White, a studio artist who works in hand-cranked illustrated scrolls known as crankies, showcased several pieces at a Library of Congress Rare Book Division event and described her creative process, materials and collaborations with musicians.

White opened by explaining the crankie as "essentially just a scroll and a box," describing sizes (many early pieces were about five feet long) and technical choices such as linoleum-block printing and the use of a colophon to note provenance and production details. "You may have noticed that at the end of each of these is something called a colophon," she said, explaining how artists’ books record printing and textual provenance.

She performed or displayed multiple pieces in chronological order to show the evolution of her work, starting with "City Squirrel," moving through pieces inspired by bioluminescent kayaking trips ("Bio Bay") and a reinterpretation of a Cherokee-adjacent legend in "Moon Eyed People." White described "Moon Eyed People" as her interpretation of stories collected by settlers, explicitly noting it is not the original Cherokee legend.

White described how music and collaboration shaped recent pieces: some crankies are set to songs by Tyler Ramsey ("Flare," "Flying Things"), and others illustrated research by Kevin Kehrberg and Jeffrey A. Keith on the Swannanoa Tunnel. On timing and collaboration, White said she uses storyboards and consults musicians to ensure the crankie and music align: "I storyboarded out some ideas...and I wanted them to really give me feedback on whether I was actually, you know, in some ways my crankie is like playing the supporting role for what their work is." Kevin Kehrberg noted the ensemble sometimes uses a monitor to see where images are during performance so the music can be adjusted live.

White also discussed studio practice and scale. She described starting with smaller pieces when her son was young and moving to larger performance crankies as her time allowed. She said she sometimes switches back to smaller formats to use wood engraving for finer detail. She acknowledged showing an unfinished, drawing-based crankie at this program and explained that she had placed preliminary drawings in a box to illustrate work-in-progress.

On representation, White said she replaced her linoleum-carved images of convict laborers with an actual historic photograph because the photograph "put real faces to the stories that we've heard" and better honored the individuals involved. She also incorporated local Asheville landmarks (a cast-iron sculpture, Mountaineer Inn, Black Mountain Train Depot) into the Swannanoa-related crankie to root the piece in place and community.

The session included audience questions about process, teaching (Warren Wilson College’s work-college model), and musical lineage, including a final exchange about Elizabeth Cotten's "Freight Train" and how the presenters incorporate biography into teaching. White said links to related articles and resources were available on a display table for attendees to consult after the program.

The presentation combined demonstrative craft detail with discussion of musical and historical research and closed with audience Q&A and thanks from the Rare Book Division.