Unfortunately for me I lost the most important person in my life at a young age, my mother passed away from cancer and we had to struggle to survive. I engaged in evening classes to learn how to cook and know what to do, in my teen age years my aunty taught me how to knit and crochet and later from a close friend learned how to do tapestries, I enjoyed the creation of my work which got much better over time, I made some really beautiful items for people and myself, which my closest and dearest friends treasure.
Yet in the fast world we live in a lot of crafts are dying out and people generally do not know how to cook and when you take Jamie Oliver going to schools and the children did not know what a potato or tomato was, or how to mend or sew and just throw away and get another one, it is scary.
Later years I took up art and can paint a scenery or person or animal to the likeness of a photo yet people today do not have the time to find out about their own creativity will these important skills be lost for ever. Will the pleasure of creation and beauty be a thing of the past?
I watched National Geographic The Great Wall of China how families worked tirelessly to build the wall and many walls from the mountains to the sea, the man’s creation you can see from space, today it is hard to walk to the top of some of these mountains never mind having bricks on your back, a lot had very little food and water, yet they leave us with many questions and wonders and a beauty left for generations to come.
When you take The Emperor’s Secret Garden which had dust and been hidden for over 200 years the fathers and mothers passed on skills to their children which are so valuable yet a lot was lost and forgotten. In the program the Chinese had to seek specialists all over the world and go to the places in China where specialist skills, with a very minority specialist in these areas survived today, to do the work of embroidery, bambooing, painting this took years and many attempts and going back in history to discover the skills.
The palace in Beijing in the forbidden city was restored from photos and research, Chin Long never enjoyed the retreat, he lived to 1799 died at the age 88 which for two hundred years the beauty sat under dust.
After 9 attempts of getting the backing paper right the restoration for the roof could commence from specially skilled bamboo paper, then many attempts to get the colour right and the silk then bamboo craftsman to put their skilled hands at work for the restoration, these skills took years and were passed from generation to generation.
The result was beauty, elegance and colour so brilliant that many generations could enjoy and admire this brought harmony love attention and a retreat to life, for all to enjoy and appreciate.
You can view this on Youtube https://youtu.be/_fxJ0xEoY8I
Would it be a major crime if some of these valuable skills were lost forever. Only a small handful of people with limited skills what would be the financial cost and actual cost of lost talent?
SallyGilson 