The Spirituality of a Young Gifted Artist, Akiane

“I define spirituality as a search for love, beauty, happiness and wisdom. Spirituality is a journey that we never finish.” ~Akiane Kramarik, 16 Year-old, Artist, Poet, Mystic


You may have seen Akiane and her incredible art work before when she has appeared on various TV shows. Her talent, which began at a very young age, is quite amazing and inspirational. She considers her talent to be directed by God. Obviously her inspiration not only in her art but in her writings has a strong spiritual essence and message. Her paintings evoke an energy that is pure and loving.

And by the way, I added the word Mystic to her description in the quote above, because from what I have read and heard about Akiane, I would consider her a mystic as she is a visionary and has a connection to the spiritual world.

See what you think after reading her words and seeing her artwork and video. I think you may agree.

(and my thanks to Nancy at Life In the Second Half and her blog article on Special Children for again bringing Akiane to my attention.)

From Akiane's Blog:

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Akiane
187 Comments
a Response to Bloggers’ questions regarding alternative lifestyles.

I define spirituality as a search for love, beauty, happiness and wisdom. Spirituality is a journey that we never finish. It has nothing to do with our levels of development, achievement, awareness or intention.

Both a two year-old and a centenarian might not be wise, happy or altruistic yet highly spiritual. Young children might not be fully aware how spiritual they are, however, without childlike sincerity and purity we cannot even imagine certain touch of holiness.

Hitler, too, tried to create his own version of perfect, healthy and stable society. For many he was an epitome of farsightedness and spirituality. The Pope even blessed Hitler’s army. Was Hitler spiritual? Yes. In his own diabolic and hideous way.

How do we weigh levels of spirituality? Are alternative lifestyles less spiritual than traditional ones? Some people abstain from all intimate relationships, because they believe they have to devote their time to love all mankind in a childlike genuineness. Others form monogamous heterosexual relationships. While others create bonds outside all traditional rules.

From the standpoint of eternity each level of maturity is relative. We are all spiritual, and we are all different. Neither higher, nor lower. Neither farther, nor closer. Neither deeper, nor more shallow. Just uniquely different. Looking at a blossom from a different direction one will see it completely foreign, special, beautiful or revolting depending on where we stand. If the close-up is of a spider attached to the stem, then for those who don’t like spiders the sight will look distasteful. If the image is of a butterfly on a petal the view may appear peaceful to us, but not for a bird hungrily watching the scene.

From the standpoint of our present world we all assign our measurements of preference. Given the choice we will join families and groups based on our interests. We attract those with similar values and ideals. People crave belonging. So whether it is a national, racial, religious, political, educational, vocational or biological identification we try to connect to something familiar and within our comfort zone.

Clear messages of diverse feelings experienced by other people were part of my visionary and extrasensory perception since I was five years of age. I do not condemn any personal choices for intimate relationships. Love is love. I detest only the violence and trauma that any self-centered conduct can cause to others.

[copyright by Akiane Kramarik, 2010]





Akiane’s Website Gallery



~Linda

The Blinking Artist: Thomas Nelson

"With little time to mourn my losses, I turned my face to the wind and never looked back. "

~Thomas Nelson, Musician, Artist

One of my Internet friends and close friend of my cousin Vivian, Terry, sent me an email tonight about the art work of his younger brother, Thomas Nelson. You really need to take a look at this and read the story of this artist.

See, what is so inspiring is that Thomas is a quadriplegic and he now draws pictures by blinking his eyes.

Talk about courage...and living life...

From his website:

Eight years ago, at 57 years old, Thomas was living the life of his dreams. But then he received devastating news that would radically alter the course of his life. He writes in his online journal:

"In 2001 I was a year into retirement and having the time of my life as a full-time working musician. Little did I suspect that fate was winding up to deliver a curve ball that caught me right squarely between the eyes.

"This particular missile came in the form of a diagnosis of ALS. I guess I'm fortunate that my version of paralysis began in my feet and worked its way up because it gave me a few extra years before my arms and hands became too weak to play."

ALS, also known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease", progressively shut down the functions of Thomas' muscles. He was forced to adapt. "With little time to mourn my losses, I turned my face to the wind and never looked back. The constant through it all has been my computer. Through the computer I stay connected with friends and family, manage my personal affairs, read books, and communicate with the people around me."

As a creative outlet, Thomas devised a way to draw. He uses E Z Keys scanning software, Xara Xtreme graphics editing software, and an IST switch that emulates a mouse click when he moves his cheek. Amazingly, he connects vector points and draws lines by blinking his eyes.
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Read more....and see his gallery...and you may want to purchase his drawings. Here he is at Facebook, too.

~Linda

Pope Benedict and the World of Art

Pope Benedict XVI met with more than 250 artists today at the Sistine Chapel in Rome. The gathering of hundreds of painters, sculptors, writers, actors, and musicians, held beneath the vaulted ceiling of the chapel painted by Michelangelo, received inspiration from the Pope in his effort to “renew the Church's friendship with the world of art."

My cousin, Sylvia, in Vienna, Austria emailed me today to let me know of the event as it was being broadcast from the Sistine Chapel on her Italian television station. Sylvia wrote this:

“I just tuned into my Italian channel Rai Uno and there is the Pope in the Sistine chapel speaking to artists from all over the world. He is speaking in Italian so I looked it up and found he wants a closer relationship with all artists with the church or religion. He told them, we need you. It has been 45 years since the Vatican or the Pope has met with artists.

The cameras are frequently flashing on the art in the Sistine chapel, on the ceiling, on specific frescos.

The Pope has a white robe on and a huge gold cross on his chest.

The commentator just said il Pappa is saluting certain artists present at the meeting.

Now they are showing the outside of the chapel in the square. The sun is shining and it looks like a good day.

I see in the audience there are many men and a few women.

Now, he is giving his blessing. Patri et filitu et Santus. Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Now, they are inside the Sistine chapel again. The frescos look so bright and fresh. It is amazing. There must be artists touching them up to keep them looking this bright.”Saturday's event marked both the 10th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's 'Letter to Artists' in 1999 in which he spoke of the Church's "need for art," and the 45th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's original meeting with artists in 1964. The invitation to today’s meeting went out to 500 artists regardless of religious, political or stylistic allegiances.

In recent years the Vatican has seemed to pull away from the art community and has had some controversy with artists including Dan Brown’s best-selling book (and resulting movie), The Da Vinci Code. In hopes for reconciliation with the artistic community, the Vatican's new culture commissar, Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi seems to be driving the efforts for the Church to again support the arts.

According to a quote in the New York Times: “Benedict made ‘a cordial, friendly and impassioned appeal’ to the artists, calling on them to be ‘fully conscious of your great responsibility to communicate beauty, to communicate in and through beauty.’”

According to the Catholic News Agency:

“In a moving address he [Pope Benedict] challenged the artists, as ‘custodians of beauty,’ to be ‘heralds and witnesses of hope for humanity.’”

The Pontiff explained this phenomenon, "thanks to your talent, you have the opportunity to speak to the heart of humanity, to touch individual and collective sensibilities, to call forth dreams and hopes, to broaden the horizons of knowledge and of human engagement."

“He asked them to ‘be grateful, then, for the gifts you have received and be fully conscious of your great responsibility to communicate beauty!’

“The Holy Father expounded on the need for beauty in the world as a source of inspiration, happiness and unity.

“’Beauty, like truth, brings joy to the human heart, and is that precious fruit which resists the erosion of time, which unites generations and enables them to be one in admiration,’ he said.”

“Encouraging those who filled the Sistine Chapel to seek out opportunities to share this beauty with others, he advised them not to be afraid ‘to approach the first and last source of beauty, to enter into dialogue with believers, with those who, like yourselves, consider that they are pilgrims in this world and in history towards infinite Beauty!’”

“He added that they must not view this as a weakness, explaining that faith ‘takes nothing away from your genius or your art: on the contrary, it exalts them and nourishes them.’”


I did notice Sylvia’s comment that there were more men than women. Hmmm....



~Linda
P.S. Thank you Syl....

Creative Tools

“The voice of our original self is often muffled, overwhelmed, even strangled, by the voices of other people’s expectations”
– Julia Cameron, Author of The Artist’s Way

Julia Cameron is a poet, best-selling author, playwright, and filmmaker. Her book The Artist’s Way has sold over two million copies and has inspired many artists in their creative endeavors. Cameron collaborated with Emma Lively on the musical play, "The Medium at Large," a story set in 1938 New York about a reluctant gay medium who hopes to connect with his deceased partner but instead connects with numerous other spirits including the parents two sisters who want the best romantically for their daughters but can’t seem to make it happen from the other side.

Sounds like a great play.

~Linda