12/30/06
My aunt Alma is in the hospital, and I'm remembering the afterschool Bible groups she held for children. I forget what she called them, but I remember very well her flannelgraph
artwork.
She would tell Bible stories and move cut out figures on a board. The board was covered with white flannel, and she would sketch, in chalks (I think), backgrounds. She would have several flannel art backgrounds for each story.
This was a very good way to tell stories to children. Well, to me, anyway. Going to Aunt Alma's for afterschool Bible stories was far better than most classes in school. Better stories, anyway.
I wonder if anyone else does this. Has flannelgraph gone the way of the mimeograph? Fallen into utter desuetude?
It would be a good way to tell, say, stories from ancient Greece. I'd love to tell Tiresias's tale of the snakes, and the sex change, and then his seer life, using flannel boards. Can you imagine the paper cutouts to help tell the Greek myths? Or the Epic of Gilgamesh?
Trouble is, I'm no artist.
At least, not like my aunt was in her heyday. Those flannelgraph backgrounds were great. She told the stories well, too, moving around the paper cut-out figures of the prophets, or the disciples, or the tax collectors, or whoever, as the story moved along.
A quick search on Google yields evidence that evangelical Christians haven't given up on flannelgraph yet. (See the first hit I found, linked in the title to this post.)
I wonder when PowerPoint will take its place?
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