: Ymgysylltu â'r Gymuned

Linking Collections is a project that unites the natural science collections found in the museums across Wales. Put together these make up a distributed natural history collection for the whole of Wales, forming a part of our shared cultural and scientific heritage.

As part of this project a touring exhibition entitled ‘Stuffed, Pickled & Pinned: 50 Wonders of Nature in Welsh Museums’ has been developed. Formed from a selection of objects and specimens from across the regional museums the exhibition will visit 18 museums over the next three years!

In preparation for the tour the chosen specimens and objects were brought together at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Here the Natural Sciences conservation team prepared them for their three year journey by creating packaging to protect them in transit, minimise the need for handling and, where necessary, provide an easy form of display.

The exhibition contains a very diverse range of natural history specimens and objects with many different packaging and display requirements. For a number of the specimens specific support mounts were made from a conservation grade of inert foam called Plastazote.

For other specimens it was possible to create a display mount that also provides support when in transit. A good example is the puffer fish. This has been mounted on black Plastazote that slides out of a Correx box that opens from the side. For extra support when travelling a thin strip of Plastazote is placed diagonally across the puffer fish and secured to the base with entomology pins.

A pickled (fluid preserved) adder from Llandudno Museum required some creative packaging to protect it when travelling. Two plastic tubs were cut to shape and Plastazote padding placed at each end. The specimen jar is then placed inside and empty space filled with acid free tissue. The plastic tub is then placed tightly within a thick black Plastazote box. 

An option for some of the fossils was to package them so that they could be displayed in their box. Plastazote with cut outs support the specimen and they can be presented as they are or at an angle on a Perspex support.

Old entomology boxes have also been put to good use as a way of creating a display case for collections of small specimens such as eggs and shells.

The Linking Collections Exhibition “Stuffed, Pickled & Pinned; 50 Wonders of Nature in Welsh Museums” opened at Powysland Museum on October 20^th 2015. Further information can be found on the People’s Collection Wales website - http://www.peoplescollection.wales/collections/475828

Ruth Murgatroyd, Masters Student in Conservation at Cardiff University

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

Chalkie Davies: Ei Stamp ar yr NME

Mae'r arddangosfa wedi dod i ben ac felly mae'n amser datgan pwy sydd wedi ennill ein cystadleuaeth! Roedd yn wych gweld bod cymaint o bobol wedi ymweld a chreu gwaith wedi'i ysbrydoli gan y sioe.

Mae'r dyn ei hun wedi cael cyfle i feirniadu'r ceisiadau a rydym yn falch iawn o allu rhannu enwau'r enillwyr efo chi!

Gwobr Gyntaf:

@3gsdevtrust - Da iawn! Mae print Chalkie wedi'i lofnodi a bag rhoddion ar ei ffordd i Ymddiriedaeth Ddatblygu 3Gs, sy'n gweithio gyda phobl ifanc yn ardal Gurnos, Penydarren and Dowlais. 

One of my fav #mychalkieimage photos to date - @3gsdevtrust do The Specials! http://t.co/JnJ4G68OJS pic.twitter.com/hiuUhoh2gg

— museumlearning (@MuseumCdf_Learn) August 18, 2015

Ail Wobr:

@fezzer64 - rhannodd y llun o'r rebel hapus hwn ac mae'n ennill taleb Recordiau Spillers a bag rhoddion:

Inspired by the head and shoulder frame filling shots #mychalkieimage of my boy @ChalkieDavies pic.twitter.com/Fe7uA61sOS

— alisong (@fezzer64) June 6, 2015

Trydydd Wobr:

@CaronAooper

Bydd taleb Seetickets ar ei ffordd i Aaron am ein lun gwyrdroedig a thywyll, a dynnwyd ym Mharc Cathays.

@ChalkieDavies @MuseumCdf_Learn @Museum_Cardiff Image 1 #mychalkieimage pic.twitter.com/tLp7ADi7mW

— Aaron J. Cooper (@CaronAooper) July 31, 2015

Dewisodd Chalkie 5 llun oedd hefyd yn haeddu cymeradwyaeth, felly bydd bag rhoddion yn y post i David Jones, @tflathers, @daniellestalbot, paulhurlow a @softfun - cewch weld eu lluniau, a llawer mwy, ar storify #fyllunchalkie.

Diolch yn Fawr

Diolch i bawb a gymerodd ran - cymerwch olwg ar yr holl ffotograffau yn ein storify #fyllunchalkie. Os na gawsoch chi gyfle i weld y sioe, cewch gip ar waith eiconig Chalkie yn y fideo isod:

I’m back at my desk in St Fagans having just had one of those ‘I love my job’ kind of weeks. On Wednesday, I spent the day with an amazing group of Year 10 students from Ysgol Clywedog in Wrexham, gauging their opinions on devolution and its impact on Wales since 1997. Heavy-going stuff for 14 year olds? Think again!

With my colleagues Owain and Richard, I met the students at Wrexham County Borough Museum bright and early on Wednesday morning for an action-packed day of researching, questioning and debating. The aim of the day was to produce a film of the students discussing devolution and what it means to them as teenagers living in Wrexham today – a town which voted ‘no’ in 1997. We took a banner from the collection with us as a springboard for debate. This banner – made for the ‘yes’ campaign by the artist Mary Lloyd Jones – will be displayed in one of the redeveloped galleries here at St Fagans in the near future, along with contemporary voices from Ysgol Clywedog.

To kick-start the discussion, we asked the students to do a little background research. Some trawled the web using i-pads, while others accessed local newspapers stored on microfilm in the museum’s archive. Headlines and articles from the Wrexham Leader gave a snapshot of the debate at a local level – 44.3% of voters in Wrexham were in favour of devolution, while 55.7% were against. The Year 10 researchers were not surprised by the ‘no’ vote in Wrexham. This prompted a lengthy discussion about their identities as young people in north-east Wales, living so close to the border with England. Interestingly, eight out of the nine participants would have voted ‘yes’ in 1997 had they been eligible to vote.

We then moved on to analysing the banner. Without any prompts or contextual information, we asked the students to jot down their initial reactions and emotions on viewing it for the first time. Comments varied from questions about its design to its usage and meaning. In the afternoon, we filmed two group discussions, with the students directing questions to each other. This took on the feel of an informal Question Time, without the cheering and heckling! We were so impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of the students, it’s going to be a real challenge to edit the finished product.

A huge thank you to Thomas, Jess, Edan, Pedro, Morgan, Elise, Matthew, Lucy and Harry from Ysgol Clywedog for taking part in the project. We can’t wait to see the film on display. Our thanks also to Wrexham Museum for hosting and supporting the workshop. Diolch yn fawr iawn i bawb.

#YesForWalesBanner #MakingHistory

#BanerIeDrosGymru #CreuHanes

Ers y blog diwethaf mae’r gwaith ar y safle wedi datblygu cryn dipyn. Rydym wedi gorffen y to gwellt ac mae camau olaf y gwaith tirlunio wedi dechrau. Mae banc pridd wedi’i godi o amgylch y ddau dŷ crwn i efelychu amddiffynfeydd cadarn gwreiddiol Fferm Bryn Eryr ar Ynys Môn. Adeiladwyd cysgod to glaswellt y tu ôl i’r tai a fydd yn cael ei ddefnyddio fel gweithdy awyr agored a gofod addysg ychwanegol. Mae’r waliau o ‘glom’ - sef cymysgedd o glai, isbridd a cherrig mân - yn union fel y tai crwn, ond mae’r to glaswellt yn esiampl arall o ddeunydd toi sydd bron mor hen â gwellt. Gosodwyd arwyneb cobl o flaen y tai crwn, sydd hefyd yn efelychu’r lleoliad gwreiddiol.

Yn ddiweddar rydw i wedi bod yn canolbwyntio ar ddodrefnu’r tai. Bydd y mwyaf o’r ddau yn gymharol wag (dim ond aelwyd a mainc bren yn dilyn y waliau) er mwyn ei ddefnyddio fel ystafell ddosbarth ac ardal arddangos. Mae’r tŷ llai yn dangos bywyd cartref fel yr oedd yn ystod Oes yr Haearn ac yn cynnwys dodrefn cyffredin i’r cyfnod – tân i gynhesu, gwely i gysgu, gwŷdd i greu dillad a blancedi - a cistiau pren yw storio, ynghyd a chrochan i goginio bwyd. Seiliwyd bron pob eitem ar esiamplau o’r cyfnod sydd wedi llwyddo goroesi dros 2000 o flynyddoedd. Mae’r grochan yn replica o lestr coginio copr a haearn a ganfuwyd yn Llyn Cerrig Bach, prin 25km o Bryn Eryr, ac wrth y tân bydd fersiynau syml o’r brigwrn a ganfuwyd yng Nghapel Garmon yn Sir Ddinbych. Mae’r llestri pren wedi eu seilio ar rhai a ganfuwyd ym mryngaer Breiddin ym Meirionydd tra bod y maeniau melin yn efelychu y rhai a ganfuwyd yn Bryn Eryr ei hun. Rydyn ni wedi cynhyrchu set lawn o offer trin coed yn dilyn esiamplau o fryngaerau fel Tre’r Ceiri a Castell Henllys. Mae hyd yn oed y blancedi wedi eu copïo o ddarnau o ddefnydd sydd wedi goroesi.

Gyda’r tŷ wedi ei ddodrefnu fel y byddai yn y cyfnod gallwn ni ddefnyddio’r lleoliad i ail-greu bywyd mewn tŷ crwn. Gyda chymorth crefftwyr, actorion a gwirfoddolwyr gallwn ni ddod i ddeall bywyd Oes yr Haearn yn well a helpu troi’r tŷ hwn yn gartref.