# Akiane Kramarik, child prodigy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2006, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213 "2006-04-04T06:29:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/21 "2006-04-04T22:30:17Z")
I like her earliest work (the pastels) much better, to be honest. To me she seems talented for her age, but who knows where it will take her? My daughter was considered a “talented artist” at age eleven. I put her in special classes, bought every supply my meager paycheck could handle, and encouraged her in all kinds of ways, but at sixteen she doesn’t even doodle anymore. The website is just cheesy though. Seems like the parents are just using religion as a gimmick. I am a Christian and it’s still screaming SAPPY to me. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/22 "2006-04-04T22:35:12Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Link? [You can’t guess who I was lethinking of?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=4938649&postcount=12) 😉 I’m surprised I found anything. ---
**Author:** ![Frosted\_Glass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frosted_glass/32/3926_2.png) [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/23 "2006-04-04T22:56:38Z")
I am a big fan of “Strength” and “Dance of the Mind” but everything else seems to be lacking. As others have previously stated, it feels too much like artwork that you could find in a mall store. Still, she is only eleven. She has many years of experience ahead of her from which she can draw new inspiration. Hopefully, she will be able to grow and expand as an artist. Either way I think that she will always have an audience for her work. That is the advantage of being evangelical. Though I would like to see examples that demonstrate the evolution of her skills more clearly, sometimes the development of artistic technique is like playing chutes and ladders. Akiane is a pretty name and I would also like to know what it means. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/24 "2006-04-04T23:09:37Z")
If an adult were presenting those pieces - and quite a few do, you see that kind of stuff everywhere - I’d just dismiss it as El Yucko. While the paintings have strong color value work, they’re nasty in every other respect (with the exception of some nice foreshortening in that large Jesus piece). Bleh. I did a lot of nasty work like that myself when I was a teenager, I think it’s part of the learning process. For someone so young to do it leaves me baffled. I hope she goes on to develop a genuine aesthetic, but there are a lot of people who’ll pay good money for nasty paintings like those, so she may not ever have the chance. ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/25 "2006-04-04T23:14:00Z")
I liked the “Blessing”. Sort of Georgia O’Keefe without the vagina. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/26 "2006-04-04T23:55:50Z")
Oh, I saw this on her testimonials page and it pissed me off: > [@Stupid Redneck Reporter](#): > > Akiane is probably the only visual arts prodigy to have mastered realism. Every other prodigy has mastered forms such as either cubism or abstraction. Which means, frankly, that you don’t know if they made a mistake. But realism is considered the most difficult to master. Picasso was a better realist painter than her at her age, dumbass. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/27 "2006-04-05T03:19:41Z")
> [@Batsinma Belfry](#): > > When did Kenny Loggins become “The Prince of Peace”? Haha! I think I just woke up my roommate. Thanks for that! > [@FilmGeek](#): > > Apparently she’s a “binary genius”. What the hell does that mean? I think, in this context it means that she’s officially a “genius” at two things (realist painting and poetry). As to the OP, I think she’s talented, but then, so are _a lot_ of youngsters who are given motivation/direction to persue a particular field starting at a young age. I know many folks who, at her age, were phenomenal musicians, dancers, and artists. What Akiane has going for her is a solid marketing/PR machine, and a subject matter that appeals to the very people who will think it’s that much more precious coming from a “gifted” kid. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/28 "2006-04-05T03:50:03Z")
Obviously very talented, but she lacks the experience and maturity to be an interesting or original artist. There must be a thousand artists making stuff exactly like this, and Akiane only stands out because most of them are three times her age. She’s got the technical skills, and she may develop into something better when she’s 17, horny, and angry. Or maybe not. There’s a huge market for this kind of motel room crap, and mom and dad may keep her pumping it out until she burns out on art all together. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/29 "2006-04-05T03:55:32Z")
> [@shelbo](#): > > I liked the “Blessing”. Sort of Georgia O’Keefe without the vagina. I can’t picture this concept. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/30 "2006-04-05T05:24:58Z")
Another (even younger) kid artist with a pimping website [Marla Olmstead](http://www.marlaolmstead.com/home.html) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/31 "2006-04-05T07:38:53Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > \ Ewwww…the Welch’s Girl. I just got over that and now it’s in my brain again. Surely you’re not shuddering at the thought of [this adorable moppet](http://www.welchs.com/company/advertising.html)? She’s the reason I’m making white grape juice my drink of choice from this day forward. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/32 "2006-04-05T08:07:10Z")
Look, what she draws is what you see in any High School Art class. She’s not great, she’s just 6 years younger than the people who usually draw like that, and quite frankly she doesn’t seem to have got much better over the last 3 years. I can buy mildly autistic savant, I certainly can’t buy genuinely gifted artist or the new Da Vinci. What do her pictures make you feel when you look at them? “Wow, what a great picture for a little kid”. Not deeply touched or spoken to, not like you’re gaining insight into her soul or the human condition, nothing. Look at Van Gogh’s _Starry, Starry Night_, which is less technically accomplished, and actually looks like it could be painted by a 10 year old, yet speaks to people all over the world about what it actually _feels_ like to be under the stars in Provence. As for that marla kid- well, just because Pollock produced art that looks like that, doesn’t mean that her pictures are anything remarkable. They look like the stuff I did when I was her age, and I can’t draw for toffee. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/33 "2006-04-05T08:27:48Z")
I guess that’s the problem with many prodigies. You can develop the skills at that age, but somebody so young has rarely has the chance to develop an artistic viewpoint and have something to say. I’m no judge of painting (all I can say is that the stuff looks reasonbly nice and doesn’t move me, and that I sure couldn’t do it), but her poetry isn’t anything special either. Her vocabulary is probably a little advanced for her age and she’s comfortable expressing herself in writing. I wouldn’t say anything else for it. There’s nothing novel about anything I read at her site - no interesting imagery or use of words, no rhythms, and no feeling as far as I can tell. If she was 14 instead of 11, it’d be stuff for the family scrapbook and maybe the school yearbook. Instead, someone’s trying to tell us it’s genius. Please. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/34 "2006-04-05T11:55:21Z")
> [@Arnold Winkelried](#): > > Surely you’re not shuddering at the thought of [this adorable moppet](http://www.welchs.com/company/advertising.html)? She’s the reason I’m making white grape juice my drink of choice from this day forward. No, no, no…that little kid is cute as a button! I’m talking about the blonde one with the curly hair and the creepy manner. I can’t find a picture of her on line, but she’s the central point of most of my nightmares. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/35 "2006-04-05T13:28:28Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > No, no, no…that little kid is cute as a button! I’m talking about the blonde one with the curly hair and the creepy manner. I can’t find a picture of her on line, but she’s the central point of most of my nightmares. If I ever find a picture of that Frightening Blonde Demon, I’m putting it on a T-shirt and mailing it too you. It will clear any crowd before you. I’m evil, like that. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/36 "2006-04-05T13:32:55Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > If I ever find a picture of that Frightening Blonde Demon, I’m putting it on a T-shirt and mailing it too you. It will clear any crowd before you. > > I’m evil, like that. And that, my dear, is why I love you. I’ll wear it proudly. Cuz I won’t actually be able to see it. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/37 "2006-04-05T13:45:32Z")
_cackles_ [http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/dale/433/biopics/busts/bemy.jpg](http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/dale/433/biopics/busts/bemy.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/38 "2006-04-05T13:57:13Z")
I don’t see anything on that link. Is it my little Welch’s Monster? ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/39 "2006-04-05T13:58:13Z")
Should have been, yes. If you do a Google Image search on Emily Mae Young, you can shriek to your hearts delight (or terror!) ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213/40 "2006-04-05T14:26:57Z")
Man, that’s beautiful (in an “oh my god just let me die” kind of way). The Jay Leno piece doesn’t exactly capture the terror, though. The fixed camera, coupled with her voice in those commercials, is the true definition of creepy. (I feel kinda bad. I bet she’s a nice little kid.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramarik-child-prodigy/351213.md?page=3)