Wally’s Workshop

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.

Akiane saw visions, but she also believes she’s part of them as if she’s able to consciously be in two places at one time. She once told her mother that this was her reasoning behind the painting “Eternity”. It’s an experience she calls “shared self” because the visions of other places are so realistic to her.

Inspiration can be found all around Akiane. When she touches the fur of an animal, smells a flower, or sees how things look differently in changing lights, she finds the inspiration to paint or write what she sees and how it makes her feel. Textures of life can be seen in paint through her work.

Stop and smell the roses. It’s a bit clich, but it’s what Akiane does each and every day. She sees beauty all around her, so she uses her talents of art and poetry to show that beauty to others. She simply polishes what she sees, and she believes anyone can learn to do it whether it be art, writing, or even music.

Each of Akiane’s paintings has a unique meaning behind them. She had a reason for painting each one. For example, “Hand of Destiny” shows a left hand grasping its chosen destiny while the right is moving around helplessly. We have to choose our own destinies. “The Quantum World” is only a microscopic piece of the world she sees, including the different dimensions of her world.

To Akiane, every color has meaning. White means truth, pink means trust, and black means suffering. Each stroke of each painting, and each word of each poem carries deep meaning beyond what many of us have ever thought. Akiane encourages the world around her to see beyond the obvious and find the hidden beauty within.