The "American Hands" photo project by Sally Wiener Grotta is on display at the Palmerton Area Library this month.

Grotta described the display as "what I call narrative portraits of people that keep the old trades alive.""They're going to see photographs that look like paintings," Grotta said. "Pictures that I hope will intrigue them.""American Hands" is Grotta's award-winning visual celebration of those individuals who keep alive the traditional crafts that built our dynamically diverse culture and established the underpinnings of our present-day society.In this ongoing project, Grotta creates narrative portraits of people who use their hands in traditional ways, making functional objects that are, today, typically done by machines. Along the way, she spends time in a wide variety of artisans' workshops including a spinner, weaver, blacksmith, glassblower, bookbinder, rug-maker and many others returning over the months and years, to follow the various stages of their creations.Grotta's easy style helps artisans warm to her camera, developing personal relationships that allow her to share in intensely private and often poignant creative moments, as well as spontaneous expressions of joy.Her narrative series of portraits captures both the fascinating craft processes and the individual personalities of the craftspeople.American Hands has been exhibited all over the state, in both large and very small venues.An earlier version of the American Hands exhibit, called Pennsylvania Hands, was installed in the East Wing Rotunda of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building, several years ago.More recently, it was at the University of Scranton and the Northeast Branch of the Philadelphia Library, among many other venues. To date, over 350,000 individuals have attended an American Hands exhibit.Other exhibits of "American Hands" are scheduled through 2016. Grotta will also be giving lectures associated with the exhibits, visiting schools, senior citizen centers, community organizations, and the like. Eventually, it will be a book.In the meantime, there are two publications: The American Hands Newsletter, which is free, and the first in a series of American Hands Journals

www.AmHands.com/Journal.Grotta welcomes invitations for exhibits and lectures, as well as suggestions of additional craftspeople. Please remember that her focus is on those artisans who practice the functional, concrete skills that were required by their community, rather than those that were done primarily for artistic purposes.To contact Grotta, visit her website at

www.AmHands.com/contact, or through the project's Facebook fanpage,

www.facebook.com/AmericanHands.To learn more about the project, check out videos on YouTube at

http://www.youtube.com/user/AmHands?feature=guide.The recipient of over three dozen grants, "American Hands" has been adopted by the New York Foundation for the Arts, one of the nation's most respected arts organizations, under their fiscal sponsorship.This exhibit of "American Hands" is supported by a Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts Grant from the Lehigh Valley Arts Council and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.In addition, Grotta will present a slideshow discussion about the American Hands project for the general public.The program, from 6-8 p.m. April 16, is free to the public, and will see Grotta share stories of the artisans she has photographed, and answering questions about the project and about photography in general.