: Addysg

"Lewis! Peidiwch â chyffwrdd ag unrhyw beth a byddwch yn dawel!" Dyma oedd geiriau fy athro hanes, Mr Davies, wrth i fws Ysgol Gyfun Cynffig gyrraedd Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd yn hydref 1966.

Pum-deg-tri mlynedd yn ddiweddarach, ac ers cael fy mhenodi’n Llywydd Amgueddfa Cymru yn gynharach eleni, rwyf wedi cadw cyngor Mr Davies mewn cof wrth i mi gyfarfod a siarad â’r timau gwych o staff a gwirfoddolwyr o gwmpas ein wyth lleoliad. Rwyf hefyd wedi clywed gan Ymddiriedolwyr, Noddwyr, cefnogwyr, gweinidogion a gweision sifil a rhai o’n miliynau o ymwelwyr.

Wrth siarad â phawb dros y chwe mis diwethaf, rwyf wedi profi eu hangerdd ac ymroddiad eithriadol dros waith Amgueddfa Cymru. Ac mae pawb, wrth gwrs, mor falch o gyflawniadau arbennig Amgueddfa Cymru, yn enwedig wrth i Sain Ffagan ennill y gwobr fawreddog Amgueddfa’r Flwyddyn fel y gwnaeth Big Pit yn 2005.

Mae bron i 1.9 miliwn o bobl wedi ymweld â’n saith amgueddfa dros y flwyddyn ddiwethaf. Heb os, eiddo pobl Cymru yw ein hamgueddfeydd cenedlaethol, a diolch i Lywodraeth Cymru, mae mynediad am ddim i bob un ohonynt.

Yn ogystal, mae cefnogaeth ein Noddwyr a sefydliadau a chefnogwyr amrywiol wedi ein galluogi ni i greu cyfuniad cyfoethog o ddigwyddiadau ac arddangosfeydd, ac i brynu amrywiaeth eang o bethau hynod newydd i’r casgliadau cenedlaethol.

Rydym wedi ymrwymo i egwyddorion democratiaeth ddiwylliannol a chynhwysiad cymdeithasol. Ein nod yw ymgysylltu â chymaint o gymunedau amrywiol â phosibl, o bob cwr o Gymru, yn arbennig y rhai sydd o dan anfantais. Rydym wedi ymrwymo i wneud gwahaniaeth cadarnhaol i les pobl, a sicrhau dyfodol i’r cenedlaethau sydd i ddod yng Nghymru.

Mae ein hymrwymiad i ymdrin â’r argyfwng hinsawdd, yn seiliedig ar ein mewnwelediad gwyddonol arbennig, yn hanfodol i ni i gyd. Wrth ymgymryd â’r gwaith hwn, mae rhaglen ymchwil gadarn ac ystyriol yn llywio ein gwaith.

Mae ein gorwelion yn ymestyn tu hwnt i Gymru. Rydym yn benderfynol o wneud cyfraniad deinamig i Gymru ar draws y byd, gan chwarae ein rhan wrth greu gwlad ffyniannus i bawb.

Fel rhywun sydd wedi manteisio ar y syniad fod addysg yn hawl nid yn fraint, ac fel mab i rieni a adawodd yr ysgol yn 14 oed, teimlaf fod ymrwymiad Amgueddfa Cymru i addysg yn syfrdanol. Mae dros 200,000 o blant ysgol a myfyrwyr wedi ymweld â’n hamgueddfeydd yn 2018/19. Ni yw darparwr addysg tu allan i’r ystafell ddosbarth mwyaf Cymru – mae hyn yn eithriadol.

Heb os nac oni bai, byddai Mr Davies yn llawn edmygedd o Amgueddfa Cymru heddiw, a’n bwriad o gael gwared ar gymaint o rwystrau â phosibl, er mwyn i fwy fyth o bobl ymgolli mewn yr orielau a gofodau ysbrydoledig sy’n tanio’r dychymyg. Creadigrwydd a fydd yn cyffwrdd â’n calonnau a’n meddyliau ni i gyd.

Rydym nawr yn dechrau ar gynllun 10 mlynedd i symud ein Hamgueddfeydd ymlaen ymhellach fyth, i groesawu mwy fyth o ymwelwyr, cynnwys mwy fyth o bobl a bod yn fentrus yn ein huchelgais i ysbrydoli pobl a newid bywydau. Mae ein hawydd i ddathlu’r gorau o Gymru mewn amryw ddisgyblaethau yn ein hysbrydoli ni i gyd. Edrychaf ymlaen i weld beth ddaw dros y ddegawd nesaf.

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Hapus Iach a Heddychlon i chi gyd.

Roger Lewis

Llywydd Amgueddfa Cymru

Hello humans! Uri Guide Dog here. I haven't written my dog blog for some time but that does not mean I haven't been visiting my favourite museums. In fact I have been to several special exhibitions at National Museum Cardiff.

One of them was full of live snakes in glass cages as well as skeletons and pieces of art from the museum's collection. Mum got a chance to take part in a special audio described handling session with the live snakes – yikes – but I took the opportunity to take one of the lovely members of staff for a little walk around the block and a bit of fresh air. Apparently the snakes wrapped themselves around mum’s arms and I don't think that was very sensible, but I’m glad I wasn’t there to see it!

We also attended the David Nash exhibition which was very interesting, particularly seeing the humans using some very doggy techniques when investigating the large chunks of wood scattered all around the large rooms. The group had special permission from the artist to touch some of the sculptures but they also stooped and sniffed as the wood all had different smells. I was a bit confused why there appeared to be full-size trees in the middle of the museum! Mum kept me well away in case I mistook them for indoor dog facilities.

We have visited St Fagans a couple of times too, including a tour of the farm and the animals. We saw some sheep being sheared which didn't look very comfortable to be honest, and I was a bit wary when mum tried to pet a cow.

I am looking forward to the next Audio Description tour on 12 December when we get to officially meet Dippy the dinosaur!

For more information on Audio Description tours at National Museum Cardiff, call (029) 2057 3240.

I began volunteering for Amgueddfa Cymru while I was studying at Cardiff University. I took part in a Family Learning Placement with the Learning Department in National Museum Cardiff. I had already decided that I wanted to work in the Museum Sector and I was already pretty certain that I wanted to work in museum learning from volunteering at other organisations.

The aim of the placement was to create and deliver drop-in craft activities for the summer holidays. Although I had volunteered in other museums, this placement allowed me to develop new skills and showed me the diverse jobs done by a Museum Educator.

In pervious volunteer roles, I had facilitated activities for school groups before but never designed them. This placement gave me the opportunity to create activities. I also had the opportunity to look around some of the stores, meet the curators and learn about preventative conservation.

This placement was great because it gave us clear learning objectives and an outcome. We had organised sessions, which taught us about designing family activities and gave us the chance to try out the activities the Museum already had.

Volunteering with Amgueddfa Cymru helped me develop skills, which I still use today as an Education Officer. It was my first glimpse into the diversity of the work of a Museum Educator and I have spoken about it a lot during interviews.

I now work in the Egypt Centre: Museum of Egyptian Antiquities as the Education and Events Officer. I organise and run the Museum’s Learning Programme.

Follow me on twitter @H_Sweetapple @TheEgyptCentre

Helo Cyfeillion y Gwanwyn,

Mae'n diwrnod plannu ar gyfer ysgolion yn Gymru, Lloegr a Gogledd Iwerddon! Bydd ysgolion yn Yr Alban yn plannu wythnos nesa.

Cliciwch yma ar gyfer adnoddau i'ch paratoi ar gyfer heddiw ac am ofalu amdan eich bylbiau dros y misoedd nesaf!

Dylech ddarllen y dogfennau hyn:

• Mabwysiadu eich Bwlb (trosolwg o’r gofal fydd angen ar eich Bylbiau)

• Plannu eich bylbiau (canllawiau ar gyfer sicrhau arbrawf teg)

A dylech gwblhau'r gweithgareddau hyn:

• Tystysgrif Mabwysiadu Bylbiau

• Creu Labelai Bylbiau

Mae'n bwysig eich bod yn darllen y rhain oherwydd maent yn cynnwys gwybodaeth bwysig! Er enghraifft, ydych chi'n gwybod i labelu eich potiau fel mae’n glir lle mae'r Cennin Pedr a Chrocws wedi eu plannu?

Cofiwch dynnu lluniau o'ch diwrnod plannu i gystadlu yn y gystadleuaeth ffotograffydd!

Cadwch lygad ar dudalen Twitter Athro'r Ardd i weld lluniau o ysgolion eraill.

Pob lwc! Gadewch i ni wybod sut mae'n mynd!

Athro'r Ardd a Bwlb Bychan

Earlier this year I was presented with the chance of a lifetime, a paid opportunity to develop my professional career and expand my portfolio. I applied for an artist in residency with Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, to work with their museum volunteers up and down the country, to create a project that would celebrate 10 years of the volunteering program. After a thoroughly exciting interview process, I was asked to join the team.

Fast forward 6 months and my Artist Residency has now reached a close. I’m very happy with the work I have created; it showers the volunteering hub in colour and celebrates the amazing contribution volunteers have given to the museum. It fills me with joy to share my work with such an enthusiastic cohort of volunteers from all walks of life.

I started designing the mural at the same time as touring the country and running creative workshops with volunteers. I had collected a long list of volunteer roles but understanding them in a way that helped me generate genuine visuals required meeting volunteers in person, visiting the sites and experiencing what they do first hand. Over a month or two, I managed to construct flowing imagery to turn into celebratory hanging banners - a design format that stood out during my research.

I created the design by hand, as I feel more comfortable using traditional techniques, then started the daunting task of rendering a digital copy of the work using Adobe Illustrator. Including this step was somewhat of a learning curve for me, but it’s been a valuable experience. Having a digital copy of the design meant that we could create prints for all the museum sites and a printed gift for each of the volunteers. It also sped up the painting process because it allowed me to use a projector.

Using string, pins and painters tape I divided the wall up into segments. Piece by piece I projected and copied details of the design upon the walls rough surface. The wall is made of lime rendering, which it turns out is not a very cooperative surface to paint on. It’s dry, so moisture from the paint is quickly absorbed which increases the amount of paint needed, the stroke count and the time it takes. It’s also rough, which slowly ruins brushes and pens.

Once the design was cartooned upon the wall, I chose to fill in large areas using low-pressure spray paint. This part of the process saved time and had the lucky benefit of creating a smoother plastic wrap over the wall. After filling the space with basic flat shapes I used brushes and pens to add details and definition with regular acrylic paints.

My goal was to create a design that was not only on brief, but functional, aesthetically pleasing and contained other layers of depth hidden below the surface. The hanging banner format is supposed to connote a sense of celebration and heraldry. The colour palette is reminiscent of the dyes used in the tapestries sewn by volunteers for Llys Llewelyn. I wanted the illustration style to be subtly influenced by welsh traditional craft and contain subtle suggestions of embroidery, slip-on cast tiles patchwork etc. I created the typeface used for the quotes contained in the artwork from some of the earliest welsh stone carvings found on a cross near Ogmore.

I’d been looking forward to the painting process since the very beginning, it was long and laborious but oh-so rewarding. Despite the fact that a large percentage of my wardrobe is speckled with a rainbow of vibrant acrylic, I really enjoyed physically crafting something.

I want to say the biggest thank you to everyone in the volunteering & community engagement department - especially Ffion & Haf - for checking in on me and giving me guidance and support, thank you to all the kind staff at St Fagans for making me feel welcome, thank you to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for providing the funding for this amazing opportunity, thank you to my partner Elin for driving me everywhere, but most of all the volunteers who have truly enriched my experience.

The last 6 months have been the best of my life. It has been so rewarding to work in a creative role where I feel valued. I’m going to miss working at Amgueddfa Cymru. 

If you'd like to know more about the project as it was happening you can have a look at Robin's previous blog https://museum.wales/blog/2019-06-20/ARTISTS-PROJECT-Celebrating-10-Years-of-Volunteering/