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 colors that emanate from a prism by a single beam of light.
"In Visions of the Sacred: Conversations with Bahá'í Artists, Kim MacQueen has brought a scholarly exploration together with a deeply personal journey which has resulted in confirming the power, importance and core connection between art and spirituality. I found this book to be a treasure trove of inspiration, insights, and wisdom. The Bahá'í Faith and the creative process of twelve artists constitute the lens through which she examines this connection as a skillful, wise, curious, and patient guide. As a qualitative researcher and artist myself, I found that the book helped me develop a deeper appreciation of how the creative process, although essentially and deeply mysterious, does have common threads and themes. In the end, this rich work reminds us all that the creative process is essential for us to ever transform ourselves, our communities, and the world at large." - Michael Brant DeMaria, Ph.D. Psychologist and Author "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
An Astonishing Exploration
With her deep love of and respect for art and artists and her knowledge of how the arts contribute to culture and to the Faith, Kim MacQueen has documented her interviews with a stunning array of contemporary artists who are Bahá'ís and combined this with thoughtful commentary. It is a MUST for anyone interested in the subject of the arts and the Faith and heralds the day when the Faith will "spread like wildfire" when it is exemplified through the arts. It reminds us of how we need to encourage and delight in creativity, to approach the arts with a sacred sensibility, and to preserve and protect the artistic budding and flowering of a nascent Bahá'í civilization. Read it and be inspired!