PHILIP HUCKIN

Philip Huckin was born in 1952 and grew up in Oxford where he completed an Art and Design Foundation Year at Oxford Polytechnic. Subsequently, from 1972 to 1975, he studied Art and History at The University College of Wales Aberystwyth, where he gained a Bachelor of Arts degree. From 1975 to 1976 he completed a post graduate Art and Design teacher training course at Sussex University and he took up his first teaching post in Hertfordshire in 1976.

During his time in secondary education he worked in the South East, North West and North East of England where he taught Art and Design; managed departments and faculties; directed the curriculum as a Deputy Head Teacher; delivered teaching training; wrote and edited national training materials in Art and Design; and worked as an Education Adviser. During this period of his life, a total of 33 years in secondary education, he continued to draw and paint whenever possible, usually during family holidays, in the firm belief that teachers, through their own personal practice, should stay connected with the subject that brought them into education. Many is the time that his two children went on circular walks in Wales with his wife so that he could stay put and work hard to fill the pages of a sketch book.

In 2010 Philip moved from Lincolnshire to Wales to study for an MA in Fine Arts at his old university Aberystwyth where he was awarded a university scholarship and in 2012 he gained a Master’s Degree in Fine Art. The desire to return to Wales had been growing during the final stage of his career with an aspiration to paint and draw the Welsh landscape. No word exists in the English language to describe this longing but Welsh gives the perfect word, Hiraeth, a yearning for a place whose absence makes life incomplete. The study of the landscape formed the focus of the MA and during the course he began to study Welsh in a desire to draw closer to the landscape he was portraying: the names and deep cultural history that pervades the valleys, hills, villages, and man-made structures in Ceredigion.

Ganwyd Philip Huckin ym 1952 a threuliodd ei ieuenctid yn Rhydychen, lle cwblhaodd gwrs sylfaen Celf a Dylunio yn y Coleg Polytechnig. Yn dilyn hynny, o 1972 i 1975, bu’n astudio Celf a Hanes ym Mhrifysgol Cymru Aberystwyth lle cafodd radd BA. Aeth ymlaen wedyn i ddilyn cwrs hyfforddi athrawon ym Mhrifysgol Sussex a chafodd ei swydd gyntaf fel athro yn swydd Hertford.

Yn ystod ei gyfnod fel athro ysgol uwchradd bu’n gweithio yn Ne Ddwyrain, Gogledd Orllewin a Gogledd Ddwyrain Lloegr yn dysgu Celf a Dylunio, rheoli adrannau ac uwchadrannau, cyfarwyddo cwricwlwm fel Dirprwy Bennaeth, ysgrifennu a golygu deunydd hyfforddi cenedlaethol, ynghyd a gwaith Cynghori Addysgiadol.

Trwy gydol gyrfa o 33 mlynedd mewn addysg uwchradd parhaodd i baentio a darlunio ar bob adeg posibl, ar wyliau teuluol yn bennaf, gan gredu y dylai athrawon bob amser gadw cysylltiad agos, trwy ymarfer personol â’r testun a’u denodd at addysg yn y lle cyntaf. Bu ei wraig a’i ddau blentyn droeon yn cerdded cylchdro tra’r oedd Philip yn aros yn ei unfan i lenwi tudalennau ei lyfr brasluniau.

Yn 2010 symudodd Philip o swydd Lincoln i Gymru i astudio ar gyfer MA yn ei hen goleg yn Aberystwyth ac yn 2012 graddiodd fel Meistr mewn Celfyddyd Gain. Tua diwedd ei yrfa ym myd addysg tyfodd awydd cynyddol ynddo i ddychwelyd i Gymru ac i baentio a darlunio’r tirlun Cymreig. Hiraeth ydoedd am brofiad a lle oedd bellach ar goll ac wedi gadael gagendor mawr yn ei fywyd. Astudio’r tirlun lleol oedd canolbwynt ei astudiaethau MA ac yn ystod y cwrs dechreuodd ddysgu Cymraeg er mwyn gallu treiddio’n ddyfnach i hanfod y tirlun hwnnw a’i ddiwylliant; yr enwau a’r hanes hir sy’n gymaint rhan o ddyffrynoedd, bryniau, pentrefi ac adeiladau Ceredigion.