Within the frame lies a fascinating story

Take a long look at the Sam Francis painting “Basel Mural I,” a mammoth abstract work that occupies its own room at the Norton Simon Museum, and before long its great clusters, spatters and drips of blue, orange, red, yellow and purple appear to levitate off the canvas.

What words and images might it inspire? What story might it tell?

On Sunday the museum’s “Storylines Family Festival” will explore art as storytelling with a 45-minute performance in the auditorium by noted L.A.-based theater troupe We Tell Stories, followed by a gallery activity.

There, children -- adults are welcome, too -- will be invited to do some creative thinking of their own, inspired by the performance and based on three specific pieces of art in the museum collection: the Francis painting; “Royal Hunt and Storm,” a giant 17th century work by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli; and a small 10th century bronze statue of the elephant-headed Hindu god, Ganesha.

“Artworks often have great stories behind them -- religious, mythological, even personal stories about the artist’s life,” said Sara Campbell, the museum’s senior curator. The festival’s goal is to “help our visitors uncover these narratives and add an additional layer of meaning to their museum visits.”

We Tell Stories acting artistic director Diana Tanaka worked with Jennifer Stevens, the Norton Simon’s education assistant, in the theater company’s literature-based program to complement the art-related activities.

In its signature style, with props and costume pieces pulled from a trunk and plenty of audience participation, We Tell Stories will perform Lewis Carroll’s fantastical poem “Jabberwocky,” from “Alice in Wonderland,” to tie into the Francis painting; e.e. cummings’ “The Old Man Who Said Why,” to complement the creation stories represented in the Indian and Southeastern art exhibitions; and “The King’s Fountain” by Lloyd Alexander, relating to the royal myth depicted by Romanelli’s work.

“We started out at the Los Angeles Museum of Art,” Tanaka said, “and we work at the Getty quite a lot, but not in this way, not with [museum staff] working with kids afterward. I’m very excited about this.”

With “Jabberwocky” in mind (“ ‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

In the gallery dominated by Romanelli’s paintings of scenes from the romantic myth of Queen Dido and Trojan warrior Aeneas, including “Royal Hunt and Storm,” with its winged cherubs, plunging horses, wind-swept trees and lowering clouds, the activity will be to illustrate the parts of the story that are missing.

Then it’s down the circular staircase to the Indian and Southeast Asian galleries on the museum’s lower level, where rooms are filled with bronze, sandstone and marble carvings and sculptures of buddhas, gods and goddesses.

Stevens will tell how the god Ganesha’s tusk came to be broken -- he threw it at the moon -- and ask participants to come up with stories from their lives that include objects that help tell the story, such as “things that they might carry or wear or even sit on,” she said.

“For the last five minutes, I’ll call on volunteers to tell their stories. Most likely, not everyone will want to share, but I expect that I can convince at least a few to come forward.

“I think the earlier you start getting children interested in art, in looking at it and understanding the stories behind the artworks, the more likely you are to develop that as a lifelong learning activity,” she said. “The younger the better.”

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Storylines Family Festival

Where: Norton Simon Museum, 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena

When: Sunday, 1-3 p.m.

Price: Adults, $6; seniors, $3; free for ages 17 and younger. No reservations required.

Info: (626) 449-6840