So much patience

In a book she recently co-wrote, assisted in publishing and then inscribed to me, Irene Walt writes: "Art makes the world go round." She's obviously too modest a woman to admit that influential people like her really make the world go round. Without those who know everybody else, at parties, pointing the creative people with the right ideas in the direction of the people with money to spend, we wouldn't have countless treasures in this city, such as the Guardian Building, for one, or, for another, Detroit Receiving Hospital's art collection of 1,000-plus objects, the oldest and one of the largest collections in the nation. The Healing Work of Art ($45, 116 pp.) is a beautifully illustrated book featuring photos of South African art and crafts, Pewabic installations and several dozen gems more that you, unlucky to encounter them as a patient in the hospital, will be blessed to experience as a Detroiter.