The Beauty Within
May 13, 2008
Akiane Kramarik’s paintings have sold for up to $1 million. She has been a guest of the Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, and Good Morning America. Her two bestselling books are “Akiane: Her Life, Her Art, Her Poetry” and “My Dream Is Bigger Than I - Memories of Tomorrow”. Although she has quite an impressive resume under her belt, you might be surprised to learn she’s still a child.
After drawing for only a couple of years, Akiane moved on to her real passions, painting (at age six) and writing poetry (at age seven). Her work has been featured all over the world including exhibitions in the United States, Canada, Singapore and England. She is a member of both the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children and the Kids’ Hall of Fame.
How did a child get started on such a path? She says it came to her in visions. Her family wasn’t religious when she was born. When she wasn’t much older than a toddler, she began to see visions that she believed were from God. She didn’t tell anyone about this at first, but she had to unleash all of this energy somehow, so she began making simple drawings of the things that filled her head.
Some people claim to see visions, but Akiane takes it one step further. She believes she actually lives them as if she’s able to be in two places at once. She is conscious in both places. Akiane told her mother this was why she decided to paint “Eternity”. The feeling of being in two places is so realistic that she calls it “shared self”.
Akiane’s inspiration comes from all around her. Touching an animal’s fur, smelling a flower, seeing the world in a certain light, or even just imagining these things gives her the inspiration to paint or write. When she paints, she does so as if she’s standing next to that animal or flower. The texture comes through her paintbrush because it’s already in her head.
Of course it sounds so clich, but stop and smell the roses. Akiane does it every day. There’s beauty everywhere if you know where and how to look for it. She uses her art and poetry to show the beauty to others by polishing what’s in her mind. It’s something she feels anyone can learn to do through any type of art, writing, or music.
Each of Akiane’s paintings is unique. Each has a story to tell and a purpose for being shared. When she painted “Hand of Destiny”, she wanted people to see the need for choosing their own destinies by showing a left hand grasping destiny and a right hand helplessly grasping at nothing. In “The Quantum World”, she paints a small piece of WHAT she sees in the world around her, but she does so in many dimensions to show HOW she sees.
Even colors have deep meaning to Akiane. When she paints white, she paints truth. When she paints pink, she paints trust. When she paints black, she paints suffering. Each stroke and each poetic word carry meanings deeper than many of us have ever attempted to imitate. Look around. See the world in a different way. Find the beauty within everything.
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