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Aboriginal Design and Paint

Didgfever is about the didgeridoo and the didgeridoo is an intrinsic part of the culture of many of the indigenous aboriginal peoples in Australia. In a society without books and the written word, culture, heritage, customs and knowledge were and are handed down, generation to generation via the use of four mediums: music, art, stories and dance.

Didgfever is able to facilitate classes and workshops explaining and teaching aboriginal design and painting to groups of any size and all age groups.

Nick has learnt from many aboriginal people over the years including several tribal elders, and continues to do so, frequently working with Francis Firebrace - an aboriginal elder and storyteller of the Yorta Yorta people. Francis is currently based in the UK which has afforded both him and Nick the opportunity to visit many establishments and organisations, including schools and colleges, to hold joint workshops.

If Francis is not available, Nick still shares his knowledge and experience by holding these aboriginal design and paint workshops. The knowledge is shared, as mentioned above is four ways: music, art, stories and dance.

Art - A picture paints a thousands words and without the written word, an immense amount of information can be contained within an image, from maps to instruction manuals. The styles of painting are unique in themselves - line and dot painting - using naturally found colours in the surrounding environment.

Music - Different sounds, different rhythms, different tempos, every aspect of music can have a meaning. For example, in a song about kangaroos, the didgeridoo may imitate the gait of the animal, or imitate the sound of an animal or bird such as the dingo or kookaburra.

Stories - Stories on their own can convey many things, from a bed time story to a child to a story to growing adults or representative of a belief, often reinforced with music and repeated in song. Versatile yet conveying the information it needs to some stories have been handed down for thousands of years!

Dance - There are many forms of dance among the indigenous peoples of Australia. Commonly styles of dancing reflect the surrounding natural environment, for example a song about the Brolga bird may comprises of the dancers imitating how the bird walks, acts and behaves. All of this helps to pass information onto the listener.

Each class or workshop focuses on the best way to deliver the content of the workshop, for example, if the group are going to be painting, or making music or dancing, or even a combination of these over one or more sessions.

In addition to these four methods of learning, Nick has extensible knowledge of bushcraft, living in the outback and how all the different layers and factors combine and merge together to create the aboriginal society we know of today.

These workshops are practical, interactive and informative with everyone becoming involved and can form part of a larger project, for example, a group learning a particular dance with the aim to perform in front of an audience e.g. at a school this could be an assembly.

To book Nick for a performance you can contact him directly or via email, all details are on the contact page. Click here to visit...>>>