The Patrick Moore Gallery in Little Italy is hosting the Akiane Art Tour through Sunday July 15, featuring 12-year-old Akiane Kramarik’s paintings, legends and poetry. Akiane, who has been described as a binary genius, lives in a small town in Northern Idaho with her family where she is home-schooled and wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to paint and write. She started drawing at age 4, painting at age 6 and writing poetry at age 7.
Although raised by atheist parents, Akiane started seeing images of heaven and God at a young age.
“Visions were filling up my mind,” said Akiane. “I had to get them down on paper.”
One of the first visions she put down was a sketch of an angel that she gave to her mother as a gift. Her parents are no longer atheists.
Having no formal artistic education, Akiane gives credit for her work to God. “Without God, I would not have this talent,” she said.
Sara Woods, director of sales for Akiane Art Tour, said, “Her ability to prolifically paint realism without any technical training” is why some scholars say she is a master.
However, Woods explained that others feel it is her lifelike portraits and her “sophisticated ability to create the sheerness in her veils that appear in paintings such as ‘Angelic Love’ and ‘The Angel.'”
But Woods believes that Akiane’s “ability to connect with people, regardless of age, race, or religion, through her painting and poetry, is what makes her work so powerful.”
‘Faith’ is a picture Akiane painted of a small orphaned Asian girl standing in a dark field where the girl is discovering love and God for the first time. One of Akiane’s motivations for painting ‘Faith’ is that she likes to paint people from all backgrounds and races. ‘Forbidden Fruit’ is a painting of a woman, which combines characteristics of many races into one face. Akiane said she wanted to paint an Eve that anyone could relate to.
Due to the spirituality intertwined with Akiane’s work, and the visions that inspire her, she is sometimes regarded as a prophet, with swarms of people coming to her for advice and guidance. Akiane directs them to her paintings.
“It is hard for me to give advice,” she said. “I am still a child and I too have many questions. My paintings are the best guide I can give.”
Akiane paints her pictures with a certain light in them that she says represents love, protection and guidance. It is with this light that she wants to convey a message of hope. “I want people to feel the emotion I put in my paintings. I want to give people hope,” she said.
Hope is exactly what Akiane has given to the Listen Charity, an organization that supports children’s charity projects around the globe.
Akiane’s second depiction of the little Asian girl has her seated on a hill surrounded by bright blossoms with darkness in the background. The name of this painting is ‘Hope,’ and Akiane has donated it, along with the rights, to the Listen Charity.
‘Hope’ will be sold at Christie’s Auction House in New York. Proceeds from the sale are expected to reach nearly $1 million, which will go directly to projects for children all over the world.
“My dream,” said Akiane, “is that one day there will be more hope and happiness than tragedy.”
Every Friday night at 7 p.m., through the close of the exhibit, there will be a lecture and question and answer session focusing on Akiane and her collection. Also, one of Akiane’s prints will be raffled off at the end of the exhibit to benefit a local charity. Raffle tickets are available at the gallery.
The Patrick Moore Gallery, located at 2400 Kettner Blvd., Suite 103, is open Tuesdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission into the gallery is $5 for individuals, $15 for families of up to six and $4 for seniors and students. For more information about the Akiane Art Tour, visit www.akianearttour.com.For more information on The Patrick Moore Gallery, visit www.patrickmooregallery.net.