John King at the Buhler Gallery in Winnipeg In the deep cold of winter in the past week before the spring thaw, I was privileged to have some heart-warming conversations with several artists about their work. These were soul-searching conversations about what our lives are about. In Winnipeg, I visited my friend John King’s current exhibition called Calligraphic Influences at the Buhler Gallery in St. Boniface, Manitoba. He spoke about his work in a very reflective and passionate way, explaining how that series of work came to be, and how he came to understand what it was about. His paintings, while very joyful and playful, revealed some of John’s deep concerns about life, fragility and vulnerability. Art teaches us about who we are. That same day, a group of seven of us met for lunch at the home of Jane Gateson . The group meets for lunch and discussions now and again, and have dubbed themselves The Qwesters (the questing westerners). I get to atte...