Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Aberystwyth University students will be encouraging children and young people to get creative in a series of practical art workshops at the National Library of Wales between 22 and 25 February 2017. The workshops explore the legends of Wales and tales of ancient heroes, mystery and magic, with sessions on making masks, working with clay, painting and creating self-portraits. There will also be a session dedicated to the mysterious world of the Aztec. Developed around the theme ‘We are Legends’, the week’s activities build on Visit Wales’ ‘Year of Legends’ campaign and have been devised by a team of volunteer students on the University’s Museum & Gallery Education and Interpretation module. Alison Pierse, Art and Design Coordinator for the School of Education and Lifelong Learning, said: “Students have taken it on themselves to run this volunteer programme for many years, delivering lively learning opportunities for local youngsters and families. “For the students, it offers an in...

The changing faces of radicalism in Wales will be examined as part of a new research project at Aberystwyth University. The study will examine the different approaches taken by three nationalist organisations - the Free Wales Army, Meibion Glyndŵr and Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society). The aim is to look at civil participation on society’s fringes and analyse why certain forms of citizen engagement are viewed as being more socially acceptable than others. Hosted by the University’s Department of Geography and Earth Sciences and funded by the ESRC Doctoral Training Centre for Wales, the study covers the 30 years from 1962 to 1992, widely seen as a tumultuous period in modern Welsh history. A unique feature of the project will be the close collaboration between the University and the Welsh Political Archive at the National Library of Wales. It is hoped the findings will also form part of an exhibition in 2019 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the invest...

A new bus service linking Aberystwyth town centre, the University and the National Library has been officially opened by the Minister for Regeneration, Huw Lewis AM. The new 03 Mid Wales Travel bus, which provides a three times an hour service, will call from town at the National Library, the University, the Arts Centre and Sports Centre via a new link road. The new road, adjoining the back of the National Library and the University’s Sports Centre was funded through a grant worth £192,750 by the Aberystwyth Regeneration Area Fund. It aims to make a difference to the environment by reducing the number of cars and traffic on campus as well as opening up a new cycling and walking route. Aberystwyth University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor April McMahon, explains: “We’re delighted with this new venture between the University and the Library. Not only will it provide a better bus service for students, staff and the general public but it will provide a safer environment. I would also ...

The new David Jones Centre, based at the Department of English and Creative Writing, Aberystwyth University will be launched at a conference at the National Library of Wales (NLW) this Friday, 14th September. The new centre is named after the influential modernist painter and poet, David Jones (1895-1974). As a painter David Jones worked mainly in watercolour, painting portraits, landscapes, and legendary and religious subjects. He was also a wood-engraver and designer of inscriptions and the author of the epic war poem In Parenthesis, acknowledged by T. S. Eliot as a poem of major importance. His Catholic beliefs and Welsh heritage infuse his work. Born in Brockley, Kent to a Welsh father, Jones closely identified with his father's background and developed an early interest in art. In January 1915 he enlisted with the Royal Welch Fusiliers and saw extensive service in France and Flanders. After demobilisation he returned to his art studies at Westminster School of Art. He met ...

A symposium on Information Privacy, Security and Forensics in the Digital Age will be held at the National Library of Wales on Thursday 6th September, jointly hosted by Aberystwyth University and the National Library of Wales. There has been unprecedented activity in this area in the second decade of this millennium, with the UN ruling that internet access is a basic human right, the deliberations of the Leveson Enquiry regarding press standards and surveillance culture, and EU e-privacy and data protection reform, to name a few. Discussion on the public and private spheres in the digital age has aroused much critical commentary and has led to the revising of the meaning of public and private in the realm of information. Developments in on-line communication and commerce have popularised this debate and the question of what information is, or should be, public and private, is one which reflects the complexity and interconnectivity of personal and public personas. The organiser of th...

A five-month exhibition showcasing the research of Aberystwyth and Bangor universities into medieval seals in Wales from 1200-1550 is running at the National Library of Wales. The exhibition, Seals in context: Medieval Wales and Welsh Marches, is housed at the National Library’s Hengwrt Gallery and runs until the end of September 2012. The ‘Seals in Medieval Wales’ (SiMeW) project, undertaken by the Department of History and Welsh History at Aberystwyth in collaboration with the Department of History and Welsh History at Bangor University, is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project has been running since September 2009 and has recorded around 3,500 seals from across Wales and the Marches in order to explore aspects of medieval society and economy, politics, religion and expressions of identity in new ways. The exhibition offers an early opportunity to present some of the rich material contained in medieval seals. Seals shed light on many aspects of medie...

BBC News - Sir Deian Hopkin is National Library of Wales president A former vice-chancellor of London South Bank University, Sir Deian Hopkin, has been appointed the new president of the National Library of Wales. Sir Deian, who was born in Llanelli, read history at Aberystwyth University, where he lectured for 24 years.

An event held at Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales - in Cardiff marked the launch of a new book and DVD, Biblical Art from Wales. Biblical Art from Wales is a lavishly illustrated volume, DVD and online database showcasing the wide variety and range of biblical art found in Wales, much of it little known and previously unpublished. Launch events have already been held at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham and in the newly refurbished Founders’ Library at the University of Wales Lampeter. The final event was at Amgueddfa Cymru - a particularly suitable venue since images from its special collections are included in the book and DVD. Throughout Wales, the Bible has been interpreted and illustrated in a surprising range of media: in paint and sculpture, needlework and ceramic, woodcarving and engraving. The illustrations are drawn from across Wales and from a wide variety of places of worship: from small Nonconformist chapels and synagogues, to a colou...