Lost Arts And Lost Causes Lamented

Part I

“Praising what is lost makes remembrances dear ...”

— Shakespeare While driving along a back country road, I noticed a sign for a blacksmith and reflected that I hadn’t seen many of those.

Once upon a time, every town and village had a “smithy” (the correct name for a blacksmith shop).

The blacksmith served as a farrier, making horseshoes and shoeing the horses. That was usually his main function, but many blacksmiths made metal weapons such as swords and knives which were innately beautiful — plowshares, indispensable to the farmers; utensils for home use; and some created decorative artworks as well.

The blacksmith worked hard making useful objects with the skill of his hands and the sweat of his brow.

As long as we have horses we will need farriers, but blacksmithing as it once was is becoming a lost art.

Sadly, other arts are disappearing as well.

The very first useful craft practiced in America was glassblowing. Glassblowers were the only skilled workmen to settle at Jamestown in 1607. They took the simple natural sand along the banks of the James River and transformed it into beautiful and utilitarian green glass objects — everything from bobs for fishing nets to goblets and vases.

Glassblowing is dangerous work, requiring great patience and skill, and it is dying out. However, you can watch a glassblower at work at Terra Studios for the time being. You will enjoy watching, and it’s impor- tant to see it and to remember the beauty and rhythm of this lovely craft before it is gone forever.

Hand quilting is rapidly becoming a lost art. It is practiced by “women of a certain age” — in other words, old.

At present, I know of three hand quilting groups in my local area, but there are few “spring chickens” among us. Younger women are too busy to learn to hand quilt or fail to see the importance of it when machine quilting is so much faster; not better, mind you, just faster.

Unfortunately, quilting stores and even the quilting guilds promote machine quilting. Those of us who are purists and quilt by hand as a matter of principle aren’t getting any younger, and when we are gone, who will be left to keep this ancient art alive?

To be continued.