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World's Foremost Child Artist Prodigy - Home Schooled and All About Loving Jesus

LOGAN, September 1, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Akiane Kramarik, a soft-spoken 10 -year old girl who lives in Idaho with her parents and three brothers, is very much a normal little girl who comments on having three brothers as sometimes "very difficult", but she is by no means common. Drawing with life-like accuracy from the age of 5, Akiane has garnered international attention and been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and on CNN, CBS and ABC. Her paintings have sold for upwards of $50,000 and she has made substantial charitable contributions to alleviate poverty and hunger especially in children. However, Akiane, also a highly acclaimed poet who speaks Russian, and Lithuanian in addition to English, attributes her talents to God and has as her greatest wish, "that everyone would love God and one another."

LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Akiane and her mother Forelli Kramarik today about her art and her relationship with God. Mrs. Kramarik told LifeSiteNews.com that the family's conversion to Christianity from atheism came as a response to visions her daughter began having at the age of four. It is also those visions and conversations with God which drive Akiane to her art. Her mother noted that she rises at 5am every morning to pray and then do her painting. As Akiane describes it, "Every morning and every evening I have conversations with God. There's like a voice in my mind that talks to me."

Akiane told LifeSiteNews.com the origin of a particularly striking painting of Christ called "Prince of Peace". Akiane said that she saw Jesus in a vision and for a long time afterwards sought a suitable model to paint Christ as she saw Him in her vision. "For two years I was looking for a Jesus model in Colorado, I couldn't find anything. Then we moved to Idaho and I prayed to God, 'if you want me to paint this Jesus model please bring them through our front door'. Well then a couple of days later this carpenter - six feet tall - just perfect, just came right from the front door, and he was just perfect for my painting. It was so amazing and he agreed to be a model for me."

The resulting painting was not only amazing for its artistic quality. Mrs. Kramarik noted that Jurij Sizenov Nikolaevich of the Russian television station Shabolovka was overwhelmed by Akiane's painting of Christ, especially after he compared it with a computerized image of the Shroud of Turin and found virtually an exact match.

Akiane is homeschooled and rarely watches television. As to homeschooling she says, "I love homeschooling. Because you have more time to pray, to paint, write, spend time with the family, and play with my baby brother and my dog. I really like homeschooling."

Although LifeSiteNews.com was reluctant to ask Akiane about abortion, her mother was very open to the notion. When the subject of abortion was broached Akiane first said she did not know what it was, but her mother reminded her that it was "the killing of babies still in the womb of the mother". When told that the practice goes on in the U.S. and Canada and most of the world she responded emphatically, "Really that's bad." She added, "I can totally help, I will help them no matter what."

A book on the amazing child prodigy entitled, "Akiane, Her Art, Her Poetry, Her Life", an anthology of her art, poetry, philosophy and life is about to be released.

For more information on Akiane visit her website at:
http://www.akianepaintings.com/home.htm

jhw

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