Akiane Kramarik—Fine Artist, Poet, Best-Selling Author, Philanthropist, Filmmaker, Entrepreneur, Visionary, and Art Ambassador
- Internationally recognized fine artist, regarded as one of the world’s most accomplished and versatile living artists.
- Featured on global television shows and programs, including Oprah Winfrey, The View, Katie Couric, World News Tonight, BBC, Good Morning America, Glen Beck/CNN, Fox News, The Montel Williams Show, The Late Late Show, Lou Dobbs/CNN, Hour of Power, Extreme Prophetic, TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network), and many others.
- Showcased in documentaries, Super Human Genius, Indigo Evolution, and Miracle Detectives.
- Portrayed in the Heaven is For Real, a New York Times best-selling book and feature movie, as well in the book, Richest Kids of America.
- Her creations have been exhibited in art galleries, museums, embassies, and private institutions, and collected by many world leaders, CEOs, and celebrities.
- Considered by many art experts as the world’s most successful visual art child prodigy and the youngest binary genius in both realistic art and poetry.
- Inducted into the Kids Hall of Fame, the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children, and the Happiness Hall of Fame.
- Her first original painting, My sight cannot wait for me, was sold for $10,000 USD when she was only eight.
- Debuted her first solo art exhibition at nine years of age.
- Published her first book, Akiane: Her Life, Her Art, Her Poetry, at age 10, and her second, My Dream Is Bigger Than I, at age 11.
- Her online art gallery, www.akiane.com, has been visited by over a billion people worldwide since 2003.
- She has actively contributed to countless charitable international foundations and fundraisers such as Northwest Medical Teams, Smile Network, and Cancer organizations by raising hundreds of thousands of dollars through auctions, art exhibits, or donated to people in need around the globe.
- Akiane’s originals have been selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece. Her first original Prince of Peace, her most famous masterpiece, sold for $850,000 USD in 2019.
- Her portraits of Jesus Christ have become the most recognized face of Jesus in the world.
“Receive life like a gift and release it like a present.” —Akiane, Age Eight
“No matter what distance we cross, each step is still an infinity.”—Akiane, Age Eight
- Akiane was born on July 9, 1994 at home, underwater, in a shack on the edge of a cornfieldin Mt. Morris, Illinois, United States to a Lithuanian immigrant teacher mother and an American chef father.
- During the first years of the artist’s life, her family experienced extreme poverty and illness.
- The third of five children, Akiane was homeschooled and learned to speak four languages.
- Her multicultural heritage encompasses Lithuanian, Jewish, Polish, Finnish, Danish, German, French, Russian, Hungarian, Slovakian, and Chinese.
- She began drawing at three years of age, using mostly black pencil. At four, she expressed her visions, dreams, and life experiences, utilizing whatever medium was on hand: candles, vegetables, berries, flowers, chalk, graphite, or charcoal. By the age of six, she experimented with pastels; at seven, acrylic paints; and later on, oil paints.
- Over the years, the artist traveled to 30 countries, lived in eight states, seven countries, and on three continents.
- Her practice diversified as she worked across a myriad of genres, styles, and mediums — ranging from hyperreal large-scale acrylic or oil compositions, to more fluid, almost-abstract works that included glass and gold as a means to portray the mysteries of the eternal.
- Works daily in her studio for long stretches, painting before dawn and sketching in the afternoon. She prefers well-lit studios and living spaces with big windows, even though most of her painting process takes place before sunrise.
- Employs brushes in an extremely physical way, assisting them with her fingers, palms, and hair to achieve ever-changing textures. Akiane views her brushes as temporary tools: the link between mind and canvas. At the end of almost every painting, the withered bristles either fall apart or barely hang onto the brush handles. They rarely last longer than the creation of a single painting. The artist keeps her brushes in water and never dries or cleans them. Many brushes are purposefully altered and even damaged in order to achieve a specific texture.
- Upon filming her painting process since the age of eight, she greatly inspired tens of millions of viewers worldwide via her numerous films and documentaries such as Dharma, Painting The Impossible, Reflection, Flow Of Time, Everlasting, and The Messenger.
- It takes up to 12 months to complete a single painting, and another two to eight months to prepare an original for a limited-edition reproduction-giclee print.
- Incorporates real models, true biographies, and visionary experiences to create her pain
- Paints on canvas, linen, tile, paper, silk, and wood. Prefers acrylic paints.
- Never uses projectors or other artificial measuring tools for her compositions; instead, Akiane adjusts the balance, proportions, and perspective by eye only.
- Draws inspiration from her travels, meditations, dreams, visions, and serendipitous encounters.
- Her art mission is to make the invisible accessible through a poetic visual language, to create art that has authentic healing energy and to spread a message of peace and hope.
- Akiane imbues her works with intricate and multifaceted symbolism. Landscapes, portraits, and stories are transcendent metaphors purposefully left unrestricted by any specific time or place.
- Considers herself as a timeless explorer and a steadfast interpreter ofdiverse epochs, cultures, faiths, and worlds.
- Occasionally paints soulscapes—mystic landscapes of the soul— visionary interpretations of the soul’s journey through life.
- A number of her originals display superimposed messages, hidden stories, encrypted codes, and quantum holograms.
- Above all, the artist attributes her talent and success to her solid family support, home education, diligent work ethics, perseverance, and unique cultural and spiritual factors.
A selection of Akiane’s insights, poetry aphorisms and philosophy
Ages 8—12
2002-2006
Only from the deep coal tunnels white diamonds come.
But only by the light they are recognized.
***
Champions win, but losers learn.
***
Only a dirt road is without any speed limit.
***
Nothing can substitute for experience, one of the greatest treasures of all.
***
Hope invites all of us, but very few feel welcomed.
We build prisons, but stupidity is not against the law.
***
The endless ocean is a witness to our true history,
but few know how to interview it.
***
Every day, time is preparing us
for leaving the cat walk of this world’s fashion show.
***
Divination is an indentured servant for life.
***
Not crippled enough thieves come to see what to take.
A thief’s threat is a brittle weapon against infinite abundance.
You will always be blind—no matter how much you are ready for fortune.
***
Emotions got addicted to us, and extremes of life make history memorable,
but without the mundane everyday there would be no history.
***
We have all caught an unidentified virus
that has a lifetime warranty on its back.
Diagnoses: mankind discovers what it cares about but not how to care.
Limited shelf life – the self.
***
By straining and restraining self-expression
we cause unstoppable aging of our creativity.
***
Life is like a survival kit without a manual.
***
There is no journey in hesitation.
Don’t define yourself— your direction will.
***
Short roots can grow only short sights.
***
A thriving heart breaks while being fixed.
***
It is the absence of the visual world, not its imperfection
that causes agitation for the blind.
***
The homeless always welcome strangers.
***
We can be forced to obey, but we cannot be forced to love…
Artificial love has no reflection.
***
We have countless laws that try forcing love
to change unbreakable promises.
To truly appreciate love, we have to be free.
***
Every predictable attack of rehearsed aggression
no longer surprises our claws.
Stealing fear is fear itself.
***
Nourishing the roots of longevity does not guarantee immortality.
***
To understand the meaning of life
is to remember our commitment before this life.
We all are writing scripts for our own lives.
***
It is never possible for real self-centeredness to sacrifice
or to reason wisely.
The selfishness has high self-esteem, but no self-control,
and it knows its worth only through controlling others.
***
Stress results from forcing your personality to match cosmic energy…
***
We cannot complain to the possibility.
***
Unwatched truth is the enchantment of childhood.
And we never grow out of it…
***
The courage cannot warn the cowards,
but to encourage people is to give them courage,
so they could feel what a heart no longer can.
***
Only a caring perspective is immortal,
and only when we live for others – we know the language of love.
***
Indifference is a quarantined difference.
***
An investigation of depression has caused a suicide.
***
So much time is spent on belief.
So little time is spent on love!
***
Pride never leads, never submits, and never leaves.
Pride creates its own time to waste.
Before pride waves a white flag, it waves all other colors.
***
Impatience is patient with arrogance
that hides presents in the wounds it inflicts.
***
Those that expose themselves as knowing the whole truth,
lose the battle of innocence and humility
and eventually pull a trigger at the universe.
***
Wisdom chooses the unknown to be its reason.
***
A thriving heart breaks while being fixed.
***
Iron hearts get eventually pulled back to the magnet soul.
Even though no one moves forward,
truth is perverted to bypass time.
***
Most problems surface because of tyranny.
It is never possible for real self-centeredness to sacrifice.
The selfishness has high self-esteem,
but no self-control, and it knows its worth only through controlling others.
***
Those things that do not understand beauty
disconnect us from the truth.
Timelessness is performing with our own returned prayer.
***
The challenges are no tougher than me.
***
Our perfect beauty pales in another world.
***
When you argue with a beehive in your mind,
running away is the only choice left.
***
Youth compresses weakness.
But strength lies between weaknesses.
***
Hope is a knot in a rope
that keeps us from falling down.
***
Everyone starts believing light only at work.
A fermented mind – according to nothing, we are something.
***
Many hear inconceivable, but cannot see the intangible.
Secret to time is beyond our reason.
Many break down conclusions into illusions and confusions,
because they imitate limits, not unlimited potentials.
No supernatural can exist for the mankind that does not want to believe it.
***
We share our lives like targets for the blows of the outsiders.
***
Hallucination is a dead end.
An illusion can never go faster than the speed limit of reality.
***
Indifference of our mistakes makes us different.
***
Elegance of intelligence insures challenges.
***
We cannot complain to the possibility.
***
Before you dim a lantern spend one life as a firefly.
Between you and me
Nights anxiously breathe as melted ice becomes puddles of remembrance.
Waves of a shallow ocean shore wave to every move of the shadows.
Between you and me—strangers.
Effort
The views expect our walking—the perspective expects our effort.
It is an effort to make everything simple for others.
There is no communion, no joy and no happiness
without a true effort.
Mature thought crosses all effort.
And effort always crosses the finish line.
The Witness
Again the burnt steps seem silent and the streets empty,
Again the doors get tired of wasting their time.
But tonight they are the witness of every crime.
For Ever
Time will not predict its own actions,
and now not even my ego can make an echo.
I violate arrogance—I do not attend any questions.
Desperate for my presence, I am privileged to perform for myself.
Born for a moment I have been living for ever—
No one has ever forced me to be immortal.
Subdued Rain
Subdued hail becomes the rain,
and wet barks fall off sycamore trees like soaked burdens off the souls.
I bear a tear and frame it on a swing.
So here is I – like a raindrop—without any experience of falling…
Emptied
Everything is perfectly fitted under pressure
except for answers that are never able to question.
We can explain everything only if there are no questions.
Gorging ourselves with guarantees we get emptied by a thirst of life.
A Curfew
Again the claws are demanding a curfew—
I wish I was born with an armor.
Staples in a frame puncture the canvas eyes of the portrait.
The only time you have to think is the time you forget.
Heartbeats
Impatience is patient with arrogance
that hides presents in the wounds it inflicts.
Every heart beat is blamed for running too fast,
The earthquakes are famished for heartbeats.
And the visions evacuate the heartbeats,
but there is no competition for hope.
A Super Hero
Somehow I overdosed on metamorphosis…
Somehow I left my eyes in the past…
Like batteries without a life the city lights begin rejecting me,
as I still attempt to untangle myself from the Statue of Liberty.
Even if I kidnapped all the thieves I would still be accused as a criminal.
Through
Abstract memories of your future –
Meaninglessness gets handcuffed between roots.
No memories are imagined,
but no one can identify your past – it’s all inflamed white!
Repeated silence stings attention on purpose –
The only way in is through You.
The only way out is through Everyone.
Circus
Kisses walk away dizzy from their victory,
but beauty is not needed for affection in the inside out battlefields of reality
where mazes are still dreaming of a challenge…
Reflected off an illusionist’s mirror
the caterpillars sweep dust off the tight ropes of the circus.
Without Identity
In the pale sand even emerald feet leave pale footprints behind.
The paws admire feet—the decoys are secretly cloned.
All seasons are finished—Riddles are solved—Mazes are figured out—
and secrets are revealed, yet souls still remain a mystery.
We were invited to your impatience.
Homeless like an ocean we live without identity or beauty.
Weakened by the white stains of the upside down ropes
we wish we had a heartache to wake us up from our clay sight.
Even if we deserve to live— there is no reason to.
A Race in the Dessert
A bandit is itching from my mink cloak.
I wish his shadow stopped chasing me and wining my race.
Like a rattlesnake ready to catch a prey
the cactus leaches upon any moist movement—
There are no diamond tombstones standing.
Disguise
I hear tides in the wind
and a white-throated sparrow break into a bird feeder.
I want to forget all the promises I made to eternity—
all the vows are now dripping like icicles.
Disguising as a willow leaf I am blown away by the blinded wind.
And it looks like the snow will be thawing without me.
Inside Me
A glass falls, but does not break.
On lonely sidewalks disproportions are welcome.
Inside me – earthquakes slowly erupt,
I turn away from the light on demand,
and I keep on making the same mistakes.
Trophies in Hearts
You masked your voice to fit the rights of the pride.
Orchards do not grow for you only.
The judgment pass—trophies inside hearts.
The crowns got shifted –the expression of mankind is your future face.
Wasted
Memories come back from a journey wasted…
The first dreams knock—the last dreams kick.
Blossoms of a decayed tree have been replaced,
and temporal existence is mistaken for patience.
Windmills still stay motionless advising the wind to remain still.
Landscape of the Mind
Garden topography—
the trimmed hyacinth-shaped afternoons grow all over me.
The originality panics as it tries to establish itself in my orbit.
And my creation is still with childhood mistakes—the frostbite ladders.
My tablecloth is full of color manners,
but never was I so relaxed as now … in pain.
Locked Compass
Romance wants to pause our time,
and I commit your echoes to my memory.
Your smile is just like a locked compass holding all my senses,
and I might never grow out of my adolescence,
but underneath my battle armor is my gentleman’s suit.
The Face of Time
Tears have already beaten up my neck,
yet you still keep on piercing them with arrow glances.
Time slows down for those who patrol it.
Silhouette of light in a parade.
The face of time checks my silver eyes slowly drowning
where I find my sight to look for you.
Black Shadows
In haste we desire more—there is no future running against time.
All the gold medals have been melted for cheating competitions of life.
The inexperienced lovers like black shadows
are falling off a grandfather’s clock.
Paintings Defy Earthly Explanations
https://www.theepochtimes.com/bright/paintings-defy-earthly-explanations-5713955
The Story Behind the Prince of Peace
https://www.dailytrib.com/2024/01/04/the-story-behind-prince-of-peace-and-why-its-on-display-in-marble-falls/
Akiane | Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akiane
Akiane Kramarik | IMDB
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1916381/
Child Prodigy Akiane Kramarik Centers Her Art Practice on Love & Hope
https://www.incollect.com/articles/child-prodigy-akiane-kramarik-centers-her-art-practice-on-love-and-hope
My Encounter With God: Akiane Kramarik
https://revwords.com/encounter-god-akiane-kramarik/
Art Prodigy with a Purpose- Akiane Kramarik
https://resident.com/art-and-culture/2022/05/30/art-prodigy-with-a-purpose-akiane-kramarik
Akiane Kramarik Reveals How Nature Inspires Her Craft
https://magnifissance.com/arts/akiane-kramarik/
Meet Akiane Kramarik
https://canvasrebel.com/meet-akiane-kramarik/
Akiane Kramarik spirituality of painting
https://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/11205/1/Akiane-Kramarik-spirituality-of-painting.html
Art In Embassies
https://art.state.gov/personnel/akiane_kramarik/
Akiane Kramarik: Dream Child
https://web.archive.org/web/20070124075844/http://www.christianitytoday.com/tc/2004/004/7.24.html
Akiane Kramarik: Dream Child – Her Journey and Inspiration
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/people/akiane-kramarik-dream-child-11622549.html
After Years In Darkness, Akiane Kramarik’s Famous Painting Of Jesus Brought ‘Into The Light Again’
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/akiane-kramarik-prince-of-peace/
Akiane Kramarik Quotes
https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/akiane-kramarik-quotes
Painter Akiane Kramarik on Her Art and Spiritual Journey
https://www.theepochtimes.com/bright/painter-akiane-kramarik-on-her-art-and-spiritual-journey-2410199
Opinion: Akiane Kramarik, the woman artist whom God taught to paint
https://www.wionews.com/world/opinion-akiane-kramarik-the-woman-artist-whom-god-taught-to-paint-35087
Interview: Akiane speaks of heaven and paintings
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/31/interview-akiane-speaks-heaven-and-paintings/
Artist Akiane Kramarik of Chicago’s North Shore is just 25
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/arts-entertainment/north-shore-artist-paints-six-figures-maybe-seven-soon-shes-25
A Conversation with Akiane Kramarik and W. David O. Taylor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il01mztO85Q
Akiane Kramarik – The Girl Who Paints God
https://kimberlycook.me/articles/faith/girl-paints-god/
Akiane, the mystic painter and philosopher of the 21st century (Lisbon, Portugal)
https://news.acropolis.org/2021/akiane-the-mystic-painter-and-philosopher-of-the-21st-century-lisbon-portugal/
Check out Akiane Kramarik’s Artwork
https://voyagechicago.com/interview/check-akiane-kramariks-artwork/
Strokes of genius
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2004/jul/11/strokes-of-genius/
Inspiration
https://pixels.com/featured/inspiration-akiane-kramarik.html
Akiane – The Oprah Show (2003)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqLBX9clNkk
Akiane Kramarik | CONVERSATIONS AT KCTS 9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYDzUTZys8g
The 9-Year-Old Painter Earning $25,000 for Her Work | The Oprah Winfrey Show | Oprah Winfrey Network
https://www.oprah.com/own-oprahshow/the-9-year-old-painter-earning-25000-for-her-work-video
TBN Praise The Lord
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhlQ9hVDMqA
Akiane Kramarik: Portrait Of An Artist | Studio 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7pqHxEqAbA
Akiane In 9 Minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upG2e0fGxG0
Where Is This Child Prodigy Today? | Where Are They Now | Oprah Winfrey Network
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55XYAxSUZV0
Interview: Akiane Kramarik
https://web.archive.org/web/20090106180252/http://www.streetbrand.com/20071205189/Interviews/Interview-Akiane-Kramarik.html