: Cyffredinol

Coast – an exhibition fusing art, science and museum activism

Julian Carter, 5 Hydref 2018

Over the past few months the museum has been working closely with colleagues at the beautiful Oriel y Parc gallery in St Davids to bring together an exhibition celebrating Wales ‘Year of the Sea’ called ‘Coast’.

The exhibition fuses artworks and natural science specimens specially selected by the Oriel y Parc team from Amgueddfa Cymru’s collections, and displays these alongside some of the recent museum activisim work of Amgueddfa Cymru’s 'Youth Forum Group' highlighting the issues of plastic pollution.

The multidisciplinary nature of the display explores how the sea has inspired artists for centuries, highlights the biodiversity of the Pembrokeshire coast, and how plastic now impacts on the environment and our everyday life.

Centre piece to the art works is Jan van de Cappelle’s masterpiece ‘A Calm’, surrounded by sea and coast inspired paintings from a selection of other artists including Cedric Morris and John Kyffin Williams. Amongst these works are specimens from the natural science collections capturing the richness of Pembrokeshire's wildlife, including the skeleton of a leatherback turtle found dead on Skomer Island in 1988.

The turtle had in the past been on display at the visitor centre on Skomer, but was removed a number of years back when the buildings on the Island underwent redevelopment. In need of some repairs and cleaning, the specimen became an excellent project for one of our conservation student placements at the museum, Owen Lazzari. The end result has enabled us to bring the specimen back to Pembrokeshire to form one of the centrepieces of the exhibition.

Other highlights from the natural science collections include one of our historic Blaschka glass models dating from the late 1800s, and a Goose barnacle covered builder's helmet found off the Welsh Coast.

Further information can be found on Oriel y Parc's website: https://www.pembrokeshirecoast.wales

 

Who Decides? - what you had to say

Guest Blog: Thea Green, 20 Awst 2018

Hi, I’m Thea, a sixth form student from Shropshire who decided to create this short video as part of my work experience at the National Museum Cardiff.

I had heard about Who Decides? before I became involved in the exhibition, so I was very eager to find out more. After working with the public opinion cards, speaking to the people involved in the museum and doing some short interviews, I created an animation that I thought would best reflect the aims of exhibition and the feedback it had received.

I am passionate about art and against the idea that art and museums are ‘elitist’ or should be for the ‘privileged’ rather than the majority, so I wanted to focus on this issue in the video.

Working with the Wallich

The exhibition itself was incredibly eye opening for me; the museum had decided to work with the charity The Wallich to involve people with experience of homlessness in the process of designing and creating the exhibit and gives the public the chance to choose some of the artwork on display. I haven't seen an exhibition that has ever taken this kind of approach, so I found it intriguing to see how others reacted to the idea.

I hope this refreshing approach to curation will be an archetype for future exhibits and museums because it challenges what we usually connote with galleries and exhibits and hopefully encourages more people to visit exhibitions and museums.

Who Decides? is on show at National Museum Cardiff until 2 September 2018. You can also contribute to Who Decides? by voting for your favourite work to be ‘released’ from the store and placed on public display.

Archaeological Jewellery at Powysland Museum

Rhianydd Biebrach, 16 Awst 2018

Part 2, Working with our community partners.

 

Powysland Museum is working with the National Museum’s Saving Treasures; Telling Stories on an Archaeological Jewellery project.

In this update we hear from some of their community partners.

Welshpool Camera Club

The club has around 40 members of all abilities, from pros, advanced, to amateurs, who all ‘club together’ to ensure members’ photographic skills are challenged regardless of technical ability. They look at mastering camera techniques through hands on experience and invite speakers to give presentations.

With many of the archaeological jewellery pieces in Powysland Museum’s project being small, with delicate decoration, it was obvious that the project needed the expertise of good photographers to capture the details and refinement of the pieces.

Powysland Museum was therefore delighted when the Camera Club agreed to be one of the project’s community engagement partners.

The club’s members have got up close and personal with some of the objects and have taken some great close-ups, which have fed into the museum’s work with the other community engagement partners.

Welshpool Young Carers

Welshpool Young Carers are a group of young people who look after and care for one or more members of their family on a full-time basis. Alex Sperr, the project’s community engagement officer, ran a workshop with the group, which produced a delightful and colourful display.

The workshop focussed on the art of the museum display. A display is often the only chance you have for capturing the attention of your intended audience.

It must grab audience members at first glance, hold them there to see what it offers and persuade them to further explore the museum and the artefacts on display.

A display can be used to tell part of an object’s history, and in this workshop we focussed on making jewellery and displays for the Saving Treasures exhibition at Powysland.

The group first visited the Saving Treasures jewellery exhibit, looking at the ways in which objects are displayed.

Exploring how to display rings in the exhibition, the group then made Plaster of Paris hands by using rubber gloves as moulds. Casts of the children’s hands were made using plaster bandage or modroc, and rings were made using recycled materials.

The children then set up their displays as they would like to see them in the exhibition, along with their names.

Buttington-Trewern School

Local poet and writer Pat Edwards has run the “Off the Page” young creative writers’ club at Powysland Museum and is also runs the annual Welshpool Poetry Festival. Her quirky and exciting mind was guaranteed to engage the children.

Pat visited the museum to work with all the junior classes. The children were shown the archaeological jewellery and were even allowed to touch and hold some of the sturdier artefacts – obviously while wearing white, cotton gloves!

This was a unique opportunity for the children to see the objects outside their usual display cases.

Pat Edwards then discussed the theme of jewellery with the children, helping them develop ideas and create stories, poems, posters and other written works involving one or more of the museum objects. Some of the results and photographs from the sessions are on display.

Together with Pat, the museum is planning to develop this creative experience by offering writing classes at the museum during the exhibition period, where visitors can seek inspiration from the objects and practical help from Pat to write and tell their own stories.

The Archaeological Jewellery exhibition runs at Powysland Museum until September, after which you can catch it at Radnorshire and Brecknock Museums.

Slincosor a Big Pit Bingo!

Ciara Hand, 15 Awst 2018

Da iawn i'r timau ddaeth i'r brig eleni!

Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Llangynwyd Tîm Buddugol Menter 2018.

Ysgol Gyfun Bryn Celynnog – Tîm Buddugol Dewis y Bobl 2018.

Am y 3 blynedd ddiwethaf, mae Amgueddfa Cymru wedi cynnal cystadleuaeth ar gyfer disgyblion sy'n cymryd rhan yn her Menter a Chyflogadwyedd (Cenedlaethol/Sylfaen) yr Amgueddfa.

Briff yr Her yw creu cynnyrch arloesol ar gyfer siop yr Amgueddfa, sy'n adlewyrchu gwrthrychau a chasgliadau'r saith amgueddfa.

Caiff y disgyblion gyfle i arddangos eu gwaith mewn digwyddiad arbennig.

Cynhaliwyd digwyddiad eleni yn Atriwm newydd Sain Ffagan Amgueddfa Werin Cymru. Cyflwynodd disgyblion eu gwaith i banel o feirniaid. Fe wnaethon nhw hefyd greu arddangosiadau a chyflwyno'r cynnyrch i rai o ymwelwyr yr Amgueddfa.

Dywedodd yr holl ddisgyblion y byddent yn argymell yr her i eraill. Bu'r disgyblion yn disgrifio'r sgiliau allweddol a ddatblygwyd, o waith tîm a meddwl i gyflwyniadau a chyfathrebu.

 

“Fy hoff rhan oedd gweld beth oedd y cyhoedd yn meddwl am ein cynnyrch a clywed beth oedd ei farn am y cynnyrch”

“My favourite part was w orking as a team and creating a product that we really enjoyed”

“To answer the questions in the pitch required quick thinking skills.”

Adborth y disgyblion

 

Bu myfyrwyr o Goleg Caerdydd a'r Fro yn helpu i gynnal y digwyddiad fel rhan o'u Her Gymunedol Uwch. Roeddent yn gyfrifol am gynllunio ac arwain rhai o brif elfennau'r diwrnod, o logisteg a chefnogi disgyblion, i drefnu a chyflwyno Gwobr Dewis y Bobl, sef pleidlais ymwelwyr.

“I believe it was a great experience as you interact with all different types of people and different ages.”

Helena Vitoria, myfyrwraig yng Ngholeg Caerdydd a'r Fro

 

“Once again, the National Museum competition proved a resounding success.”

Sara Davies, Swyddog Bagloriaeth Cymru CA4 Cenedlaethol/Sylfaen |
 KS4 National/Foundation Welsh Baccalaureate Officer

 

Mae nifer o adnoddau ar gyfer athrawon a disgyblion sy'n cymryd rhan yn yr her ar wefan yr Amgueddfa: www.amgueddfa.cymru/addysg.

Cadair Eisteddfod Caerdydd - Ysbrydoliaeth Sain Ffagan

Sioned Williams, 9 Awst 2018

Caiff Cadair Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Caerdydd 2018 ei noddi gan Amgueddfa Cymru, i nodi 70 mlynedd ers sefydlu Sain Ffagan Amgueddfa Werin Cymru.

 

Mae Sain Ffagan wedi bod yn hyrwyddo crefftwaith Cymru ers agor ym 1948, ac mae noddi Cadair yr Eisteddfod yn ffordd addas o ddathlu hyn. Chris Williams gafodd y fraint o ddylunio a chreu'r Gadair eleni.

Mae Chris yn gweithio fel cerflunydd ac mae'n aelod o'r Royal British Society of Sculptors. Mae'n byw yn Pentre, ac mae ganddo weithdy ac oriel yn Ynyshir, Rhondda.

Cafodd elfennau o'r gadair eu creu yn Gweithdy, adeilad newydd cynaliadwy yn Sain Ffagan, sy'n dathlu sgiliau gwneuthurwyr ddoe a heddiw - a lle mae cyfle i ymwelwyr o bob oed droi eu llaw at grefftau o bob math. Yno, bu Chris yn arddangos ac yn rhannu'r broses o greu'r gadair gydag ymwelwyr – y tro cyntaf i hyn ddigwydd yn hanes Cadair y Genedlaethol.

Tapiwch ar y cylchoedd isod, wrth i Chris esbonio'r broses o greu cadair eiconig Eisteddfod Caerdydd:

  • O'r Aelwyd i'r Orsedd

    Cadair Eisteddfod 2018 trwy lygad y saer

  • Yr Ysbrydoliaeth

    Mae cadair Eisteddfod 2018 wedi'i ysbrydoli gan gadeiriau ffon Cymreig, fel hon yn Ffermdy Cilewent, Sain Ffagan

  • Dathlu Crefft Cymru

    Dewiswyd y garthen hon am ei phatrwm manwl - a ddaeth yn briff nodwedd y gadair

  • Y deunydd crai - pren llwyfen ac onnen - yn cyrraedd y gweithdy yn Pentre

  • Dyluniwyd y gadair fel model cywir ar Rhino 3D. Galluogodd hyn i mi fesur yn fanwl er mwyn creu jigiau a thempledi ar gyfer y breichiau a'r coesau

  • Mae sedd a chefn y gadair o'r un goeden lwyfen. Rhaid oedd sandio'r pren er mwyn datgelu'r graen - a gweld a oedd nam ar y pren sydd angen ei ystyried

  • Fe wnes i'r gwaith siapio yn Gweithdy, oriel grefft newydd Sain Ffagan. Roedd yn braf gallu rhannu'r broses o greu'r gadair gyda'r cyhoedd

  • Addurnwyd y cefn a'r sedd yn defnyddio laser Co2 - mawr yw'r diolch i gyngor Caerffili am gael defnyddio'r engrafwr! Ysbrydolwyd y patrwm cain gan garthen a wehyddwyd ym Melin Esgair Moel yn 1960. Mae'r felin (a'r garthen) 'nawr yn Sain Ffagan.

  • Roedd clampio'r pren ar gyfer yr uniad yn broses gymhleth, a roedd angen nifer o glampiau hir i reoli'r pwysau

  • Cafodd y testun hefyd ei engrafu â laser. Gwnaed hyn ar ddarn fflat o onnen, a gafodd ei lamineiddio i'r fraich gyda nifer fawr o glampiau

  • Gludo'r coesau yn eu lle

  • Bron â gorffen... Morteisio'r cefn yn ei le

  • Troi'r breichiau o gwmpas y cefn i greu uniad unigryw, a'i ludo yn ei le. Caiff y coesau bychain eu hychwanegu, a'u gosod gyda lletemau

  • A dyma hi yn ei holl ogoniant - cadair Eisteddfod 2018. Pob lwc i'r holl gystadleuwyr!