I see Your hands without the wrinkles, bones or veins Just the maps, just events, just the worlds, just the time I see the waterfalls full of songs under stairs by Your feet The poems whisper by the millions from Your mouth in rhyme.
Kramarik, now 30, wrote “Conversation With God” at the age of 8. At the same age, without a single art lesson, she painted “Prince of Peace” from a series of dreams. The portrait of Jesus hangs alone in “The Prince of Peace Sanctuary,” a quiet room with soft light, a space some say is imbued with the divine.
The Belóved Gallery
Since opening in 2023, the Belóved Gallery has attracted more than 20,000 visitors from 44 countries and 42 states. The mission for founders Lewis and Kirsten Cirne is to attract 1 million people free of charge.
In the book “Akiane: Her Life, Her Art, Her Poetry” that Foreli Kramarik co-wrote with her daughter, she wrote: “Watching the portrait develop was almost like watching a microscopic embryo develop into a newborn. Physically, artistically, and logically, the process of her painting was incomprehensible, as though pure power was vibrating through her every vein.”
Akiane Kramarik’s art combines elements of hyperrealism and contemporary styles. A transcendent beauty infuses her work. Hushed awe follows visitors from paintings of animals and landscapes to a self-portrait, “Turquoise Eyes.” Tears fall at “Prince of Peace.”
Akiane Kramarik understands the emotion. She felt a surge when the Cirnes bought her signature piece, a rush when Belóved opened.
“My hands were sweating, my heart was palpitating,” she said in an interview. “This has been my dream for some 20 years. I had to pinch myself every step. When the doors opened and people came to see it for the first time, I cannot explain the feeling.”
Saving Lives
The exhibit defies earthly explanation. Each of the 13 paintings was created by a child born to an atheistic mother and agnostic father. At the age of 4, Akiane Kramarik told her parents, “I met God.” At 7, she began dictating poetry to her mother. At 9, she appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Later, “Prince of Peace” was featured in the movie “Heaven is for Real,” the story of 4-year-old Colton Burpo, who died, went to heaven, and came back to life. When Burpo saw Akiane Kramarik’s portrait of Jesus, he told his parents that was the person he met in heaven.The movie brought global attention to “Prince of Peace” and stunned Akiane Kramarik. She heard from countless individuals who described near-death experiences with a being who looked like the face of her portrait.
“We kept receiving calls, messages, emails and letters,” she said. “People were saying: ‘You don’t understand. You’ve painted the face I have seen since I was a little girl, a little boy. I became a believer.’”
The Belóved pulses with inspiration. A man who survived a near-death experience recognized “Prince of Peace” from a visit to heaven. A war-scarred veteran found healing, at long last, in the green eyes of Jesus. A woman arrived on a bus from Monterrey, Mexico, and was so moved she returned with a friend.
Beami Strong was not a believer. He was an areligious 29-year-old in between jobs as an actor. In October 2023, he was hired to drive a group of people from Austin, Texas, to a gala at the Belóved. On the way back, he heard them buzzing about Jesus and art and a woman who painted.
“What are y’all talking about?” he asked.
Intrigued by their response, he went to see for himself.
Strong arrived at the gallery in distress. A recent breakup had left him broken. A woman he had been seeing had taken most of his belongings, including his clothes.
“I’d been piecing my life back together from absolutely nothing,” he said.
Strong pondered Akiane Kramarik’s poetry. He connected with her art. At the end of the tour, he sat on a bench and wept. Two staff members offered comfort and prayer.
“It was like I was reborn,” he said. “I could hear and feel my heart beat again.”
