At last Gareth Bonello, 9 June 2008 At last, I'm able to concentrate for half an hour or so on writing this blog, something that I haven't been able to do for just over six months. The main reason that I have some time now, is that I have stopped working two days a week in our new gallery, Oriel 1, so I can play catch-up with curatorial work such as transcribing oral history recordings and working with partners towards future exhibitions.The exhibitions we've been working towards include ones on archery, a medical display, the Urdd, Pop, and the Italians in Wales.I have also been involved in co-ordinating the St Fagans activities and events that are planned for 2009, when the theme will be 'Music', and towards the exhibiting the next Community Dresser, when Cwm Carn Boxing Club will show people what they've got.Since the last blog, I have attended several conferences in Stockholm, London, Birmingham, Bolton and Llandrindod, have learnt a lot and shared experiences about contemporary collecting issues. The final draft of the museum's Contemporary Collecting Plan has been submitted to my fellow curators, and will be discussed at a meeting at the end of this month.I still haven't accessioned any objects yet though, which is slightly frustrating. In part, we are still awaiting the outcome of the above meeting, but I am now confident that I have a clear-ish picture in my mind of what to collect. I suppose that I'll just have to be patient - after all, contemporary material will still be around in a few months time...or will it?I will try to write this on a more regular basis, but you will know, that if I don't, I'm so busy collecting, that I don't have time to write. See Ya.
Gas-guzzling clams 1 April 2008 The new species and Genus Spinaxinus sentosus, collected from the organic cargo of the sunken ship Francois Vieljeux. The genus bears little resemblance to other known thyasirids and remains the only record of this species. Thyasira methanophila, a clam new to science from a methane seepage area off Concepción, Chile. Its name suggests its dependence on methane. An extreme magnification of the exterior shell covering of Spinaxinus sentosus, recovered from the organic cargo of the sunken ship Francois Vieljeux. The spines witnessed at this magnification lead scientists at the Museum to name the new genus 'Spinaxinus'. Deep beneath the sea floor there are large reservoirs of oil and natural gas, but it is only relatively recently that methane has been discovered to seep from the surface of the sea bed. These areas are known as 'gas seeps' and certain animals have evolved specifically to take advantage of this unique environment. A diet of methane and sulphur Found alongside these methane gas seeps are communities of clams that use the gas as a source of food. They don't actually eat the gas but they have evolved to harbour bacteria in their tissues that do the job for them. These organisms are known as 'chemosymbiotic' and a few groups of clams have been very successful in adapting to this environment. The same group of clams can also exploit sulphur and these are found living in areas where there are layers of rotting vegetation, around decaying whale carcasses, at hot vents and even on mud contaminated with diesel oil. Because these clams come from unusual environments and often from deep water, many have yet to be studied in detail. A number of these gas guzzling clams were sent to Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales for identification and description. Several scientific papers have now been written on these species new to science Clams from Chile Clam shells and whole specimens were sent to the Museum following the discovery of a methane seep off the coast of Chile at a depth of 700-900m. One of these species, belonging go the genus Thyasira, was new to science and has been described in a scientific paper. The bacteria in the gill tissue of the clam were studied using a scanning electron microscope. This confirmed the symbiosis (reliance) between the bacteria and the clam. A species of the genus Lucinoma was also discovered to be new to science but only shells have been found so far. It is likely that the majority of species living at this site are endemic (restricted to this location) and found nowhere else in the world. The Pakistan Margin From the other side of the world, we were sent a small species from the same group as the Chilean bivalve - Thyasira - but from the Indus Fan, off the coast of Pakistan, collected while investigating the unusual fauna that live in the very low oxygen waters of this region. The Museum worked with the Natural History Museum, London to investigate the DNA alongside describing the anatomy and shell of this bivalve. A clam with a taste for shipwrecks Man-made sources of methane and sulphur are also exploited and one of the strangest was the cargo of the sunken container ship Francois Vieljeux. This ship sank off the north coast of Spain in 1,160m of waters, taking with it its cargo of castor beans and sunflower seeds. During attempts to salvage the vessel it was noted that clams had settled and grown on the cargo. All the clams belonged to chemosymbiotic groups and were exploiting the sulphur released by the rotting cargo. One clam was a Thyasira, similar to the specimen from Chile. Cascadia Basin, off Washington State The Baby Bare Seamount in the north-east Pacific Ocean is a hot spring and home to a new species of Axinus (similar to Thyasira). This site is unusual in that no other species of bivalve typically found at other methane seeps and hot vent sites are found here. Methane and Hydrogen sulphide levels are low, so initially it was a mystery as to what these animals were using as nutrition. Cadiz Mud Volcanos Off the Southern coast of Portugal there are numerous marine mud volcanoes created by stresses on the African and Eurasian tectonic plates. These stresses cause hot, methane and sulphur rich fluids to eject from deep within the volcanoes out into the sea bed above. By the time the fluids reach the sediment surface they are cold, so the mud volcanoes are classed as cold-seeps. Many species of Thyasira clams are found at some of these sites, but only a few are known to harbour the chemosymbiotic bacteria that help them to extract nutrition from sulphur and methane. A collaboration between the Museum and Cadiz University, Spain has resulted in the newly described species Thyasira vulcolutre , meaning 'belonging to mud volcano'. Finally, in conjunction with Bangor University, the Museum is carrying out the taxonomic work on a Thyasira collected from a mud volcano in the Arctic and a mussel of the genus Idas which was collected from diesel contaminated mud beneath an oil rig in the North Sea. This work by Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales is helping research the possibility of using these clams to clean up contaminated areas of the sea bed.
All the leaves are brown... Gareth Bonello, 17 October 2007 2007 will be known for the upside down year, when we had a torrential summer and a golden autumn. I pity the poor fungal foragers who are searching in vain for that elusive mushroom. I had an interesting comment last time from pbhj, on the 'intriguing' BSL exhibition I mentioned. He asks 'Apart from being minority languages what are the comparison points (between BSL and Welsh)?' Well pbhj, the idea of the exhibition came from the BSL community, and they drew comparisons bewteen the way Welsh has been treated and the way BSL has been treated. For example, Welsh schoolchildren in the 19th century had to wear a Welsh Not and were punished for speaking Welsh. Similarly, BSL speakers were told to sit on their hands so that they couldn't sign. Another comparison was that there is only one BSL school in Wales, so BSL pupils elsewhere have their education through their second language, similar to many Welsh pupils until comparatively recently. On a lighter note, they wished to draw comparisons between deaf comedians telling jokes about hearing people to Welsh comedians telling jokes about English people, or jokes that only work bilingually. Other aspects came up, and not all to do with the similarities between Welsh and BSL, but that gives a flavour of it. I don't understand the second part of your comment - are you accusing someone? Firstly, I don't think you can 'over-promote' something, and secondly, Welsh translation is aimed primarily at providing non-Welsh speakers with an understanding of the language. Why is this damaging? And why is it to the detriment of other services? Yes there are BSL/Welsh translators - not many, but they do exist. Sabrina Rochemont also commented, and asked 'Are there particular areas of interest that you would like our feedback on?' Well, I would like to hear people's opinions on what is 'Contemporary Collecting'. What objects should we target for future preservation, and why. In this world of mass produced things, should we be collecting televisions, computers, mobile phones? If every museum decided to do this, we'd explode at the seams! Another aspect is the community one - asking communities to curate what's important to them, and recording their experiences etc. Right, to finish, a quick run-through of what I've been up to in the last month - we've had the preliminary meetings to discuss strategies for the 2009 Pop Exhibition; I attended a meeting in Welshpool where we discussed forming a Contemporary Collecting policy for all museums throughout Wales so that we work together; I attended a second Digital Story workshop which we intend to base our community workshops on; I collected the objects from Johnstown for the second community dresser (information about the first is in 'Rhagor' on this website); I visited a couple of museums in Swansea; and I started my MA Museum Studies course. Whew! By the time I write next month, I will have been to Sweden for their SAMDOK conference, which is the leading contemporary collecting conference in the world. See ya then.
Somebody reading... Gareth Bonello, 20 September 2007 Wow! Somebody has been reading my blogs. Not sure if that makes me feel good or not, but it's a start. As the comments were in Welsh, I'll answer their queries in the Welsh version. Since the last instalment, we've been struggling with a few technical glitches in Oriel 1 which are constantly random. The timed system doesn't come on at the allocated time, some pictures have disappeared off one of the touch screens, some of the listening posts are tempremental. There must be a technical term for 'Gremlins', but I prefer to imagine little green creatures eating the wires. I'm involved in setting up two exhibitions for 2009/2010 at the moment. One is an exhibition of Italians living in Wales, and the other is on British Sign Language, which will draw comparisons between BSL and Welsh - a radical, new approach to the way BSL has been viewed in the past. We also held a very successful Hindu festival, and will be celebrating the re-opening of the temple in Grangetown, Cardiff this Saturday the 22nd. Come along to sample the sights, sounds, food and fun! Other than that, I've been meeting with a community from Johnstown to collect the objects that they've curated for our Community Dresser. If all goes well, they will be on display well before Christmas. Last, but not least, an exhibition by Mary Lloyd Jones, the internatinally renowned artist, called First Language, is being set up at the moment. It will open officially on October 4th. Please feel free to comment - at the moment I feel that my blogs are very technical and rather lifeless. If people comment, maybe I could relax a bit and adopt a more conversational tone. See you soon!
The unique prints and drawings of T. H. Thomas 20 September 2007 T.H.Thomas, 'Mrs Jones, the Devil and the supper beer' (1880), from 58, British Goblins; NMW A 11953, pen, ink and wash on paper. During his lifetime, Thomas Henry Thomas (1839—1915) created a unique catalogue of prints, drawings and watercolours detailing the major concerns of the 19th century. In 1915, the entire catalogue was bequeathed to Amgueddfa Cymru. Thomas Henry Thomas: the collector Thomas Henry Thomas, one of the founding fathers of Amgueddfa Cymru, was born in Pontypool in 1839. He studied at the Royal Academy and spent time in both France and Italy. On his return to London in 1864, he specialised in portraits, design and book illustration. He worked as an artist for The Daily Graphic, from which many illustrations still survive, ranging from work on the Severn tunnel at Portskewett to royal visits. Thomas in Wales Between 1866 and 1878, Thomas settled in Cardiff, where he was to remain for the rest of his life. He became involved with the Eisteddfod and the Gorsedd and joined the Royal Cambrian Academy. He was also a key member of the Cardiff Naturalist's Society, becoming president in 1888. His interest in geology led him to , new to science, in a large stone slab in the churchyard at Newton Nottage. The fossil was named Brontozoum thomasii in tribute. The collection Thomas's collection of over 1,000 prints, drawings and watercolours came to Amgueddfa Cymru following his death in 1915. The main collection comprises three boxes, each containing around seventy folders holding up to ten objects, grouped by subject types. Until recently, it had been assumed that this ordering system was the work of Thomas, but closer inspection of the handwriting revealed it to be that of Isaac Williams, the first Keeper of Art at the Museum. It is not known in what form these works first entered the Museum, although there is reference to a scrapbook which, has not as yet been discovered. As curating methods were rather different at that time, it seems likely that the scrapbook was broken up and its contents reassembled into the folders in which they appear today. Their contents are exceptionally wide-ranging, with topics including rural and industrial life, the natural world, archaeology, book illustration, folklore along with drawings of social and cultural life. Among the miscellaneous objects of the collection is a particularly intriguing object -a cigarette box filled with drawings by children from a school in Oxfordshire. These appear to be part of an experiment by Thomas to analyse the drawing techniques of children. Preserving the cultural life and heritage of Wales Thomas's all-embracing interests somewhat hampered his artistic development. Had he devoted himself solely to art, he could have achieved more widespread recognition. This is not, however, meant as a criticism — the strength of the Thomas material lies not in its artistic quality but in its quirkiness, its breadth, and that it represents an almost complete catalogue of the major concerns of the 19th century. Seen from this perspective, Thomas can be viewed in the tradition of J. W. Goethe and John Ruskin, men whose works spanned many diverse disciplines and wanted to bridge the gap between science and the arts. In addition to this, Thomas was also an avid champion of Welsh art and artists, and worked to support the cultural life and preserve the heritage of Wales wherever he was able. Amgueddfa Cymru is lucky to have received such a comprehensive bequest, especially one that encompasses each of its curatorial departments. T.H.Thomas, 'Effect of explosion at "Cwtch" Colliery', from 115, Mining, NMW A 12383, pen and wash with pencil on paper.
