CAPTION, March 15 -- Rumi inevitably comes to mind when I look back at my years of knowing Mansoora Hassan. Her passion for Sufi poetry and music were intertwined with the visual during our long years of friendship, caring, laughter and rapport. The first connection was that of student and teacher at the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan.

The year was late 1970, my first year of an uninterrupted academic career which eventually spanned three decades. I never actually taught Mansoora's class, but her enthusiasm was unmistakably present in the corridors, in the cafeteria, under the banyan tree and while passing through the studios.

She soon remedied this very casual interaction. Insistent on getting an input on her works-in-pro...