That question again...

Interviewer. “So, how did you two get together then?”

I'm one of 25 people standing shoulder to shoulder in an art gallery. It's 1999. Three metres away, opposite me, is another line of 25 people. We're encouraged to breathe and look at the person directly opposite. It's a bit embarrassing to be honest, I thought I'd be looking at paintings. The one saving grace is that we're fifty strangers, we’ve never met before.

I noticed her as soon as I walked in. This mysterious woman shining brightly while the rest of the crowd blended into the foyer. In silence we now have to look into each other’s eyes for five minutes. The watchword is ‘surrender’ and here she is right in front of me.

Sounds easy huh? It’s excruciating.

But after a couple of minutes we get into a groove of tentative authenticity. As we dutifully hold our gaze something weird happens. I see her change into an Elizabethan lady, Joan of Arc, a Broadway star and at least ten other characters. I'm faintly aware of everyone else in my peripheral vision remaining normal. At the end of the five minutes we're invited to ‘complete the experience’ in whatever way seems appropriate, a handshake perhaps. We walk slowly towards each other, reach out both hands, and I hear myself say, “You’re beautiful”. She replies, “So are you”.

It takes several months of circling around each other but we finally get together under the London fireworks on New Year’s Eve. We party like it's 1999. In the morning we have a whole new century ahead of us.

Interviewer. “Wow, what gallery was this, and who were the artists? It sounds amazing”.

Did I say gallery? I meant conference hall.

Did I say artists? I meant personal development trainers.

I keep getting them mixed up. I’ll tell you why.

Visual Artists (VAs) want us to question the way we look at the world. Leaving our bags in the cloakroom we accept their invitation to step out of the rat race and walk through the gallery door. Here we’re free to stop, think and feel. Via their exhibitions, installations and ‘happenings’ spirit is made tangible. Our hearts wake up to our true potential. We’re transformed.

Personal Development Trainers (PDTs) want us to question the way we live in the world. Taking our baggage firmly in with us we accept their invitation to step out of the rat race and through the training room door. Here we’re free to stop, think and feel. Via their processes, peer support, and 21st Century Rituals spirit is made tangible. Our hearts wake up to our true potential. We’re transformed.

In my humble opinion Personal Development Seminars should be recognised as New Art because they achieve so much of what modern artists claim they want their work to do. I’m serious.

Interviewer. “I read all the art magazines and no one else is saying this.”

They will, in retrospect, it might take a century. Let me be brief. I was an art student in Leeds in the late 70s. The Situationist, Jeff Nuttall, was one of my tutors. I was always more interested in ‘happenings’ than making art objects. Consequently, having tried to bring about change through all sorts of artistic and musical events for 20 years I was stopped in my tracks when, at the age of forty two, I discovered personal development courses. PDTs were quietly and methodically doing what VAs have been striving to do for decades. Stepping out of your comfort zone is counter-intuitive. Nobody does it voluntarily, however 'open to new ideas' they claim to be. The paradox of taking risks is people will only do it if they feel safe. Or they’re tricked. VAs and PDTs are skilled, philanthropic tricksters. Their first trick is to get our attention, after all, you don’t need what they’re selling. Your life is fine without it, just a bit dull, repetitive and boring. Lol.

The visual artist, Pamela Wilson, recently said in an interview, “Visual art is a conversation. I don’t mean necessarily a communication in the sense of full conveyance of a complete thought, but a series of half-thoughts, comments, questions, love and humour. Paper aeroplanes flying here and there with notes on them… I want to take the viewer for a ride, an escape, a visual retreat, an unusual vacation, a journey away”.

Personal Development Trainer, Dawn Ellis, (yes she trained up as one soon after that 'gallery' experience) recently said in our kitchen. “Personal Development is a conversation. I don’t mean everyday chit-chat, but an interaction designed to tease out and shine light on our individual essence. In my work we do battle with inner and outer limitations. I like to take people on a journey back to their authentic selves. Imagine a world where men and women make heartfelt decisions based on their true purposes rather than a subterranean tangle of fears and projections. When I’ve finished with them they do. They come home.”

Interviewer. “Escapism. Coming home. Are you sure they have the same goals? I love Pamela Wilson’s paintings. The art world never mentions Dawn Ellis though.”

Escapism has allowed the wrong people to be elected and bad things to happen. We pay attention to the wrong things, in my humble opinion. If we don’t all come home soon there will be no home to come home to. Dawn Ellis may currently be unrecognised by the art world but her achievements and the achievements of her peers are big.

As a PDT Dawn has been working with all sorts of groups for twenty years. She's one of the most effective and accomplished 'New Artists' of our time. Oh yeah, and she took the risk of marrying me in 2005.

Mad huh? Two creatives crazy for adventure. How is that ever going to work out?

Interviewer. “I have no idea. I guess you'll have to serenade serendipity, chant to chance and pivot with panache.”

OK. We'll give it a go.

#standupdrummer