3 ...

Michelangelo continues:
Just what is it you think we are doing for you, or with you, or in spite of you?

Newkirk (smiling):
Let me see if I can articulate this clearly. (pausing, he looks up at Raphael's painting, seems to be lost in thought. Bernini's "cough" startles Newkirk and brings his focus back to the situation at hand).

As long as I can remember, I have looked at art ... great art. In fact it's safe to say that I have seen a much richer variety of great art than any of you has seen. When I was a child, my parents – who knew nothing of art but were content to encourage my artistic impulse – would take me on occasion to the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, 

http://www.adamson-associates.com

or to the Detroit Institute, which has a particularly wonderful collection, (then, aside) that is at least until they sell it off to pay the city's debts,

The Thinker, a sculpture by Auguste Rodin is seen outside the Detroit Institute of Arts.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

but that is another story. I still have a hazy memory of standing in front of those amazing Rivera murals, a scrawny 10-year-old looking up, mouth wide open.

Photograph by Jason Lacey, Flickr

And then there were local artists in my hometown who liked to encourage me. But I'm wandering – back to your question. It's only within the last few years that I have realized just how wonderful it is to have so many images of ground-breaking art swirling around in my memory. I mean, if you took all of those memories away, I'm not sure who I would be. So I am increasingly grateful to artists for the things they have made, and consequently I think about these people and their work almost constantly. (murmurs of assent from the others ... "yes, I know what you mean," "sure, of course," "uh huh, yes." Names are muttered - Donatello, Giotto, Perugino and others.) These artists have given me so much of who I have become that it feels almost as if they are keeping me company when I work in the studio, watching, commenting quietly, critiquing. And you, of course (gesturing toward the three) are often with me as I work.

Maybe it would make sense to give you a little background about art in my time, and to explain just how my own particular interests embrace that art, and that of historical periods as well. But it's getting late. Why don't we adjourn for some dinner. I know a place nearby where the food is good, and inexpensive.

Trattoria Vaticano Giggi

Everyone agrees. They walk quietly to the nearby Trattoria Giggi. Conversation resumes over dinner and wine.