: Amgueddfeydd, Arddangosfeydd a Digwyddiadau

11^th December 2015 at the National Museum Cardiff from 10.30am to 3.30pm.

Join us for the Christmas version of this one day conference organized by Amgueddfa Cymru: National Museum Wales, The Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of Wales and Cardiff University. The theme is ‘Conservators in action’ and will highlight some of the great work done by conservators across Wales.

A good mix of talks is being arranged;

• Gemma McBader, this years winner of the Pilgrim Trust Student Conservator of the Year Award, will talk about her project 'Significance-led conservation of a 19th century Ethiopian shield'.
• Helen Baguley on her experiences as a music internship at St Fagans National History Museum.
• Adam Webster will be exploring the conservation of the Stradling family memorial panels.
• Ruth Murgatroyd on preparing the specimens for the ‘Stuffed, pickled, pinned’ exhibition for their 3 year tour.
• Julie McBain will be challenging authenticity in textile conservation.
• Jane Rutherfoord discusses the uncovering, conservation and significance of the 15th century wall paintings at Llancarfan.
• Caroline Buttler will be looking at the challenges of conserving, moving and displaying a few tons of fossil tree root!
• Katie Mortimer Jones will be providing an insight into the way the Natural sciences at AC-NMW integrate the use of social media.

A draft program for the day is;

If you have any queries about the program please contact julian.carter@museumwales.ac.uk. We will be looking to finish by around 3.30pm, with the additional option of some short collection tours afterwards if you wish to stay longer. For those requiring some further refreshment the tours will be followed by a seasonal visit to a local pub.

The cost of the day is £20 which includes lunch (£10 for students). If you wish to join us, please email your booking information before 7 December 2015 and follow it with a cheque or Purchase Order payable to Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales to

Katrina Deering
National Collections Centre
Heol Crochendy
Parc Nantgarw CF15 7QT

Please E-mail any booking queries to katrina.deering@museumwales.ac.uk

Booking information
Name:
Organisation:
E-mail address:
Payment enclosed or to follow: Yes/No     

Students are permitted to pay cash on the day, but must book a place by 7 December 2015. Places are allocated on a first come first served basis.

Please include any dietry requirements with your booking information.

Conservation Matters in Wales conferences are held twice a year in Wales, UK and bring together examples of best practice, case studies and research in conservation and collections care, and provide networking opportunities for conservators and museum, library and archive professionals.

Mae Archwilio eich Archif yn ymgyrch ar y cyd rhwng Yr Archifau Cenedlaethol a’r Gymdeithas Archifau a Chofnodion ar draws y DU ac Iwerddon. Y bwriad yw dangos potensial unigryw archifau i gyffroi pobl, dod â chymunedau ynghyd ac adrodd straeon anhygoel.

Y llynedd cynhaliodd staff Amgueddfa Cymru ddigwyddiad Archwilio eich Archif am y tro cyntaf. Cafodd ei gynnal yn Sefydliad Oakdale, Sain Ffagan Amgueddfa Werin Cymru, gyda detholiad o ddogfennau a ffotograffau yn ymwneud â Chymru a’r Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf i gyd-fynd â lansiad ein catalog Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf ar-lein. Gallwch chwilio’r catalog yma.

Roedd yn ddigwyddiad poblogaidd, gydag oedolion a grwpiau ysgolion yn mwynhau gweld y deunydd archif hanesyddol a chael trafod eu hanes gyda’r staff sy’n edrych ar ôl y casgliadau. Yn dilyn llwyddiant y digwyddiad, rydym yn trefnu un arall eleni. Bydd ‘Darganfod Cymru: Hanes ar Stepen y Drws’ yn cael ei gynnal ar 20-21 Tachwedd ym mhrif neuadd Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd, Parc Cathays. Y thema eleni fydd teithio a thwristiaeth a bydd detholiad o ddeunydd archif o’n casgliadau i’w gweld, yn cynnwys ffotograffau, ffilmiau, cardiau post, llythyrau a llyfrau nodiadau, gyda chyfle i chi eu trafod gyda’r tîm sy’n curadu, rheoli a gwarchod y casgliadau archif. Eleni hefyd bydd cyfres o ddigwyddiadau i blant, gyda chyfle iddynt greu eu cardiau post eu hunain i’w harddangos yn y brif neuadd, neu afael yn y chwyddwydr a’n helpu ni i adnabod enwau a lleoliadau anhysbys o’r casgliadau ffotograffig! Bydd hefyd lwybr Archwilio eich Archif i’w ddilyn o gwmpas yr Amgueddfa.

Gobeithio y gallwch ymuno. Mae mwy o fanylion yma.

Roedd Palas yr Esgob yn Henffordd yn neuadd fawreddog un tro, a gan i’r gwaith adeiladu ddechrau ym 1180 mae’n rhoi cipolwg prin i ni ar dechnegau’r cyfnod. Yr wythnos diwethaf fe es i a rhai o’m cydweithwyr, i’r Palas i weld yr un cwpwl siap bwa sydd wedi goroesi hyd heddiw, ynghudd yn yr atig.

Un o brosiectau diweddaraf Sain Ffagan yw ail-greu un o lysoedd Tywysogion Gwynedd. Sâf y llys gwreiddiol yn Rhosyr, ger Niwbwrch ar Ynys Môn ers y drydedd ganrif ar ddeg. Roedd yn un o 22 llys a ddefnyddiwyd gan Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn Fawr) er mwyn cyflawni ei ddyletswyddau gweinyddol ym mhob ardal. Adfail yw’r llys bellach a phrin yw’r dystiolaeth o ffrâm bren y to, ac felly gwnaed ymchwil helaeth er mwyn creu cynllun addas i’r ail-greuad. Roedd tystiolaeth un sylfaen postyn ynghyd ag ardaloedd gwahanol o gerrig pafin yn awgrymu bod dwy rês o byst pren yn y brif neuadd yn rhannu’r neuadd ar ei hyd, gan greu ‘corff’ canolog a dwy ‘eil’ i’r naill ochr. Byddai’n rhaid angori pyst pren tal fel y rhain er cadernid, a dyma’r rheswm dros ein hymweliad â Henffordd. Y bwriad yw ail-greu’r dechneg fframio drwy ddefnyddio trawstiau angori bwaog tebyg, fydd yn ffurfio pendistiau cryf i ddal distiau’r to. Mae’r trawst bwaog bron mor fawreddog heddiw ag yr oedd yn anterth y neuadd.

Roedd safon y gwaith ym 1168 yn uchel iawn, a gallwch chi weld y cerfio cain ar bennau’r colofnau a’r stydwaith ar ochr uchaf y carn-tro. Rhaid nodi’r pren ei hun hefyd, gan taw dim ond breuddwydio am goed o’r maint all seiri heddiw. Crëwyd dau hanner y cwpwl o un boncyff crwm, a fyddai’n hynod o brin heddiw, ac mae’r golofn gron ger gwaelod y bwa wedi’i cherfio o’r un boncyff â’r trawst sgwâr y tu ôl iddi, sy’n galw am goeden trwchus dros ben. Er bod safon y gwaith yn uchel iawn, rhaid nodi hefyd bod rhai wedi amau y dechneg. Yn English Historic Carpentry (1980) dywedodd Cecil A. Hewett bod hyn yn ‘saernïaeth wael... lluniwyd esiampl Henffordd i safon uchel, ond gwelir y safon yn hollti medrus y pren a manyldeb y ffitio yn unig. Fel y dangosir, mae’r uniadau mor wan, prin y gellir eu galw’n uniadau...’

Ond, mae Palas yr Esgob yn dal i sefyll 835 mlynedd yn ddiweddarach er gwaethaf y ‘saernïaeth wael’. Wedi dychwelyd o Henffordd, yr her i mi yw ail-greu’r cynllun yn ein neuadd ni gan godi dwy ar bymtheg o drawstiau angori hanner cylch i ddal to gwellt Llys Rhosyr. Bydd y cyfan ar raddfa lai, ond y gobaith yw y bydd dau denon cudd ar frig y bwa yn cryfhau’r uniad, tra’n cynnal yr edrychiad traddodiadol.

This October Amgueddfa Cymru had the wonderful opportunity to be a part of the Made in Roath community arts festival. Now in its 7^th year, the festival celebrates creative talent by taking art out of the gallery and into the wider community, with an emphasis on social engagement and inclusivity.

During the weekend of 17^th and 18^th October, the Natural Science conservators and curators along with some amazing Made in Roath volunteers, contributed to the festival’s creative extravaganza by installing a pop-up museum in a residential house. The unique setting allowed us to display many of our scientific specimens in a completely different way and also to make great use of our outreach collections.

Our aim was to simply have fun with the specimens, to inspire curiosity and delight for our visitors, and reinforce the idea that museums can be a friendly, relaxed spaces. So that’s just what we did…. by placing a sheep in the kitchen, a giant ancient millipede on the worktop, a crocodile under the stairs and an ostrich skeleton in the bay window. We filled a snooker table full of insects, made blinds from pressed plants and replaced the cups and saucers in the welsh dresser with fossils and minerals. Our curators enjoyed weaving their humour into the displays in subtle ways too. Visitors may have noticed a fox and otter playing a family game together and spelling their names, the spider’s web in the garden with its own paper label and even the specially created 2015.032 accession number with reference to the year of the festival and the door number of the house! 

Thanks to everyone’s hard work, the exhibition was a huge success and was amazingly well received by the local community. We have a visitor book full of lovely comments to prove it!

We’d like to say special thanks to the local Roath celebrity, Boyd Clack, who cut the red ribbon and opened the museum for us; the property owners who let us take over their home; and our volunteers who warmly welcomed visitors over the weekend, helping us to bring the museum to life.

We hope that our collaborative work with Made in Roath will grow in the future, so we can find even more creative ways to engage the community with our science collections. Watch this space!

https://storify.com/CardiffCurator/museuminahouse-madeinroath2015

For the last five years St Fagans National History Museum has been a partner in the EU Culture-funded project, OpenArch.

OpenArch is an exciting project which aims to raises standards of management, interpretation and visitor interaction in those open-air museums that focus on Europe’s early history – archaeological open-air museums (AOAMs) as they have become known. AOAMs can be found right across Europe, bringing to life everything from Stone Age campsites to Iron Age farms, Roman forts and medieval towns. Their great strength is in the way in which they present their stories, often through detailed reconstructions and live interpretation.

The partners in this project are:

Archaeological-Ecological Centre Albersdorf, Germany

Archeon, Netherlands

C.I. De Calafell, Catalonia

EXARC, Netherlands

Exeter University, UK

Fotevikens Museum, Sweden

Hunebedcentrum, Netherlands

Kierikki Stone Age Village, Finland

Parco Archeologico e Museo all’aperto della Terramara di Montale, Italy

Viminacium, Serbia

And, of course, St Fagans National History Museum.

The project itself consists of three main strands: conferences and workshops, staff exchanges, and activities.

Almost all the partners have hosted conferences related to the main area they are covering in the project: management practices, visitor interaction, craft work, scientific studies and communication, among others. Many of these have attracted large audiences and all have been stimulating opportunities to share new ideas.

Staff exchanges have also been a key method of strengthening links between the partner organisations, with practitioners spending time working in one another’s institutions to help share best practice.

The activities that partners have undertaken have, of course, been very varied. For example, visitor surveys have been undertaken to help us understand how well we are serving the public, and scientific studies have been carried out to learn more about how life was lived in the past and how this can be shown to the public.

What has St Fagans done?

St Fagans has benefited tremendously from the project. Over the course of the last five years, around twenty members of staff from all parts of the Museum have had the opportunity to see how their colleagues in other museums go about their work. It’s been a chance to share what we do well, and learn from others. On one exchange visit, staff from our Events team were able to see how public activities were organized by our partners at Archeon in the Netherlands. On another, our Iron Age learning facilitator helped out on an Iron Age themed event in Calafell, Spain. The experience has certainly given us a better appreciation of the benefits of European working and has helped us to develop further ideas for collaborative working with European partners.

Throughout the project we have been using the experience we’ve gained in OpenArch to improve the quality of the new Iron Age farmhouses we’ve been building. For example, we learnt from the very high standards of interior display demonstrated by our colleagues in Modena in Italy and adopted their standards in the choice of display items; while the work of the Hunebedcentrum in the Netherlands helped in suggesting ways that we could improve our building maintenance programmes. Along the way we’ve shared what we’ve learnt and how we’ve applied it in presentations at conferences run by the partners.

Perhaps the high point of our involvement in the project was the conference that we ran in May 2015. We used this to focus the project on issues relating to the management of archaeological open-air museums, and over three days we looked at issues both theoretical and practical in the company of a very distinguished selection of speakers from across Europe.

Alongside the conference we ran a craft festival as a major public event – the first of its kind to be held at St Fagans in many years. Over the course of a packed day, we hosted around 50 craftspeople from across Wales and the UK, including colleagues from our partner museums who were with us on staff exchange. Together they put on a great show, demonstrating everything from metalworking to pot-making, leatherwork, painting, food preparation and lots more. Over 5,000 visitors came to visit and feedback was excellent.

More information about our involvement in OpenArch can be found on the project website: openarch.eu.