"More than anyone I know, his approach to work and life was Socratic. Questions meant so much to him; he was suspicious of answers, certainly easy ones."

Said the opera director Daniel Fish, quoted in "John Conklin, Designer of Fantastical Opera Sets, Dies at 88/Realizing a childhood dream, he created scenery that was highly conceptual yet playful for the Glimmerglass Festival, New York City Opera and other companies" (NYT).

In an early meeting about the [Bard College production of “Oklahoma!”], “John reached into one of the drawers in his studio and pulled some sparkly fringe, a miniature version of the stuff you see hanging over used-car lots, and asked, ‘What if we hung this over the space?,” Mr. Fish said in an email. “That ‘what if’ was key to John’s creative process.”