Hands at Work - Portraits and Profiles of People Who Work with Their Hands

by Iris Graville, Summer Moon Scriver

This collection of dramatic black and white portraits by Summer Moon Scriver along with companion profiles by Iris Graville captures the drama and tells the stories of people who work with their hands. The 144-page coffee-table book offers 23 full-length profiles and three themed collages of people passionate about their work. Scriver s photographs and book designer Bob Lanphear s layouts are a powerful combination: many of the 126 black-and-white art images are printed larger than life. Viewed in such deft detail, hands take on sensual elegance; an oboe player s thumb and forefinger steady his instrument; a midwife s hand clasps the palm of a laboring mother. Author Graville also moves in close, allowing individuals to speak with unselfconscious candor. Written in the tradition of Studs Turkel s classic book, Working, Graville and Scriver have created a collection of stories that connect and inspire.

144 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2008

About the author

Iris Graville has lived in Washington State for four decades plus, after childhood and early adulthood in Chicago and small towns in Southern Illinois and Indiana. A long-time Quaker, an environmental and anti-racism activist, and a retired nurse, Iris believes everyone has a story to tell. She’s the author of two collections of profiles—Hands at Work and BOUNTY: Lopez Island Farmers, Food, and Community. Her memoir, Hiking Naked (Homebound Publications, 2017) was a 2019 recipient of a Nautilus Award.

Iris holds a Master of Nursing degree from the University of Washington; she focused most of her nursing career in public health. She also pursued her early love of writing, and in 2015, Iris earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts.

Her writing has appeared in journals and anthologies, and she’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She’s also publisher of SHARKREEF Literary Magazine, a staff writer for The Wayfarer Magazine, and a Homebound Publications Advisory Board member.

In 2018, Iris was named the first “Writer-in-Residence” for the Washington State Ferries. Sometimes you’ll still find her writing on the Interisland ferry as the vessel courses among the San Juan Islands.

Since 1996, Iris and her husband, a retired sign language interpreter, have lived on traditional Coast Salish lands, now called Lopez Island, Washington. They tend a large garden, ride bicycles, and walk the trails and beaches surrounding their home. They have two grown children and a grandchild. irisgraville.com.

Reviews

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful sepia toned photographs accompany short descriptions of different types of work- knitting, fishing, physical therapy, building musical instruments to name a few. Although not a children's book I showed it to my nephew to both introduce him to art photography and get a discussion going on how we use our hands.