Kim MacQueen's attentive and enlightening exploration into the work and methods of twelve Bahá'í artists allows us to examine how a shared spiritual inspiration can be translated into varied artistic forms and imaginative modes. In this study, she demonstrates that the creative impulse, even if drawing on the same essential source-the coherent framework of reality that the Bahá'í Faith provides-produces an array of artistic responses, like the array of colours that emanate from a prism by a single beam of light.

"Art is inherently a spiritual endeavor because the creative impulse and the artist's vision are both parts of an ineffable and mysterious process. And while no two artists work in exactly the same way-a fact that further mystifies anyone attempting to assess how vision is translated into sensible forms-there are some worthwhile generalizations we can derive from studying how different artists pursue their craft. For me, one useful notion is to view the artists among us as kinesthetic receptors for society, indicating how we are doing, how we got here, and, most important of all, where we are likely to end up.

This is the beauty of Kim MacQueen's attentive and enlightening exploration into the work and methods of twelve Bahá'í artists. She allows us to examine how a shared spiritual inspiration can be translated into varied artistic forms and imaginative modes. In this study, she demonstrates that the creative impulse, even if drawing on the same essential source-the coherent framework of reality that the Bahá'í Faith provides-produces an array of artistic responses, like the array of colors that emanate from a prism by a single beam of light.

MacQueen's rigorous labor of love and dedication thus proves a wonderful resource that enables us to appreciate how each artist discovers a form and mode that bespeaks how the revealed Word penetrates the heart and is reflected back to the rest of us. Her amazing journey into the minds and hearts of the Bahá'í artists represented in this collection is, first and foremost, an existential delight."
- John S. Hatcher, Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida