Through the Lens of Craft

Steve Riskind and his wife, Mary, have been residents of Ridgewood for over 51 years. Originally from Chicago, Steve’s professional journey led him to New York City, and the couple chose to live in the Village because of its beautiful neighborhoods and excellent school system.

As his professional career wound down and he headed toward retirement, Steve reignited his interest in photography, producing two books: “art | commerce” and “Held Beneath Their Hands.”

His thoughts and insights on the intersection of art, photography, and workmanship are fascinating. But Steve’s photos, which tend to hone in on the hands of the artisans as they work their craft, truly tell the story.

What first drew you to photography?

When I was young, my parents gave me a Brownie Hawkeye camera. This was my first opportunity to take pictures on my own. My real introduction to photography came in high school at the University of Chicago’s Lab School. I was fortunate to have an arts teacher, Robert Donald Erickson, a skilled photographer who captured the Chicago industrial landscape in great detail and even built his own cameras. His classes were filled with experimentation, and I spent hours in the darkroom learning photographic theory.

I returned to photography in 2008 after years of running my computer database consulting business. I headed to the International Center for Photography in New York City, where I re-learned my craft digitally. My computer consulting expertise and my earlier study of photography both came into play.

Your work beautifully blends industrial photography with portraiture. What is it about the people behind the craft that captivates you?

I strongly identify with the people I have photographed in both of my books. In high school and during summers in college, I worked as an electronics technician at the University of Chicago’s Argonne Cancer Research Hospital, where I began to realize that both hand and mind play an important role in learning.

Having managed my own consulting firm for 25 years, I know the challenges of running a small business, so I have great respect for the artisan businesses that I wrote about and photographed in my books. Each of them is trying to earn an income and run a small business based on artistic excellence. And, as a fine arts photographer who became an artist late in life, I can empathize.

The studios and shops in which they work are fascinating to me. I use photography to capture the artists in the act of creating. Often this means close-ups, including close-ups of hands at work. But there are times when the working environment itself captures my attention. The looms in Jerry Valenta’s textile mill in “art| commerce,” and Lester Dunklee’s 100-year-old machine shop in “Held Beneath Their Hands” both motivated me to wander around and photograph the environment. The tools and the surroundings in which the artist works contribute to the creative process.

What especially intrigued you about Paterson as a focus in “art|commerce”?

Part of my motivation came from taking an urban landscape photography course, and some of it was thanks to growing up in Chicago. I began exploring sites like the abandoned American Textile Printing buildings and the Colt Mill near the Great Falls. Later, I began photographing the architecture of downtown Paterson. I liked the images I was making.

I eventually met Jerry Valenta, who, along with his son, ran a specialty textile mill in Hawthorne. Jerry’s father had started the business in Paterson after World War II, and he agreed to let me photograph the looms at work.

The owner of Great Falls Jewelry Making in Paterson found me while I was selling photographs of Paterson at a crafts fair. Jan Palombo came to my booth and suggested that I take photographs of her business. That became my second Paterson-area business.

The third business I located was Paragallo Pipe Organ Company. For many years, I have enjoyed the music of the pipe organ, and for a short time I took organ lessons. I found Paragallo in a directory of organ builders, and I remembered hearing their instruments at meetings of the American Guild of Organists. I reached out to the Paragallos, and I was welcomed to photograph their active business.

John Paragallo, III, later told me about the Hiemer Stained Glass Studio, and that became the fourth business in “art | commerce.” Many roads led me to photograph artisan businesses in Paterson!

How does “Held Beneath Their Hands” build upon or differ from “art|commerce?”

The focus in “art | commerce” was small, artisan businesses. By the time I had finished that project, my interests in industrial landscape and portraiture had fused.

“Held Beneath Their Hands” began as two projects: photographing mid-career visual artists at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in New York City, and a second project to work with artisans in Vermont, where we spent our summers for many years. I consider both populations to be artists. The pandemic made it very difficult for a few years to photograph NYC artists in their studios, but fortunately, lower COVID rates in Vermont and spacious artist lofts made it possible to keep working there. I finally decided to include both groups in a single book.

How did the title “Held Beneath Their Hands” come to be?

I asked many friends for title suggestions, and one of my walking partners, Bernie Josefsberg, came to my rescue. Bernie, a former English teacher and school superintendent, has a wonderful way with language. He also has great internet search skills. He found Vita Sackville-West’s poem “Craftsmen.” He slightly modified the last line and gave me the expression “Held Beneath Their Hands.”

All nine artists in the book work with their hands. The objects of beauty they create are held beneath their hands. After much searching, I had a title!

Many of the crafts you photograph have existed for centuries, but now use some modern technology to survive. What fascinates you about the intersection of tradition and innovation?

The place where your question becomes compelling is in crafts like pipe organ building and making stained glass windows. In my conversations at Hiemer Stained Glass Studio, Judith Hiemer Van Wie described stained glass making as a profession that uses basically the same tools that were used hundreds of years ago. Electric soldering irons have replaced tools heated over a fire, and electric drills and buffers are seen at all the work tables in the shop. But it is basically the same technology, though more efficient. Pipe organs have evolved since the time of J. S. Bach (1685-1750). Once considered one of the most complex mechanical instruments in existence, pipe organs now have electric blower motors and components. They no longer require manual helpers to pump organ bellows.

When you think about technology and tradition, you have to ask whether the technology is a part of the instrument being built or whether it is a traditional instrument built using today’s tools.

As automation continues to reshape manufacturing, why is it important to preserve traditional craftsmanship?

Traditional craftsmanship is art for the people I have photographed. Highly skilled, creative people making beautiful objects. I hope this will never disappear.

To me, manufacturing is the process of making large quantities of the same object. The goal is to do it efficiently, with as little waste as possible, and to create reliable and attractive products. Large-scale automated manufacturing and traditional craftsmanship are two different worlds. I hope they are not mutually exclusive!

If readers take away one message from your books, what do you hope it is?

Giving copies of “Held Beneath Their Hands” to the artists who appear in it has been a joy. I have wanted to thank them for allowing me into their studios and shops, and I hope that their appearance in this book will help, in some small way, to further their artistic careers. As a photographer, I hope my readers love the pictures. But, beyond that, I hope you see the artists and artisans in both books as brilliant, creative people. And I hope readers gain an appreciation for the artistic process.

“Held Beneath Their Hands” is available online at everyonesbooks.com.

“art| commerce” is available at everyonesbooks.com, Amazon.com, Alibris.com, and selected bookstores.