Projects
Menu
Celebration of Calligraphy This series of paintings is created to enlighten and awaken the spiritual connection of universal humanity through lyrical and fluid imagery of Arabic Calligraphy and Islamic patterns reflecting the positive and universal message of Al-Quran to the world. My purpose is to reach out to a broad community in the pursuit of peace; to celebrate diversity and create a positive interfaith dialogue through visual art that subtly penetrates the human heart to evoke response.

Testimonials and Praise
Prayers of Oneness in the Art of Salma Arastu. The work Salma has produced for this exhibition is elegant and arresting. She successfully melds traditional design motifs, contemporary abstraction, and the most exquisite calligraphy into works that can speak to anyone willing to listen and see. One need not be of the same faith, or any particular faith, to get the message. We are one. So I learn from Salma’s artful prayers.
Preston MetcalfChief Curator - Triton Museum of Art
If much contemporary art has largely abandoned any hope of influencing reality or elevating its audience, Arastu’s art pays us the compliment of assuming that we want a better world and will gladly and even joyfully do the work, spiritual and otherwise.
DeWett ChengIndependent Art Writer, San Francisco
Drawing on her Hindu and Muslim background, and combining expertise in Arabic calligraphy with Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting, Salma Arastu creates large, evocative canvases that invite viewers into quiet contemplation on texts from the Quran, the poet Rumi, and other sources.
Museum of Contemporary Religious ArtSt. Louis Missouri
Her art of calligraphy is a prayer generated from a mindful yielding
to the Divine. The works are made in humility by one whose life is centered
in God. Salma Arastu’s creations are not Promethean; rather, they evidence
the artist’s submission to God. And so they become an invitation to us: to
find our own center, to recognize the presence of the Holy within ourselves,
and to realize the very gift of creativity we are invited to express.
Sheldon Hurst Independent Curator, Portland, Washington
Finally, her work exemplifies a deep appreciation for the inter-religious potential for artistic communication. All three traditions develop the theme of divine beauty at length and in many ways, and Salma has incorporated thematically parallel Biblical and Qur’anic texts in a number of her works. But she has also dipped into her Indian cultural heritage by integrating even evocative Sanskrit religious texts – in exquisite calligraphy – in several pieces.
John RenardProfessor of Theological Studies Saint Louis University
Previous
Next