The Light Bearers

Oil on canvas, Age 9 (2004)
 54" x 54"
SOLD (Private Collection)
 Prints Available

The Spokesman Review reporter came to the house for a few hours to interview Akiane for a feature article. Her parents were surprised that their emphasis was on spirituality and that they were taking all the photographs of her next to the Jesus paintings. Usually, the media liked to stay neutral on that matter.

“Did you ever think of taking her to a psychiatrist?” the writer and reporter asked Akiane's mother.

She understood that for many only a psychiatrist's diagnosis would verify normal sanity, especially, if a person claims to see God. Not long ago, she herself had been  one of these skeptics.

“What did you want to express in this finished painting of The Bears?” the photographer asked Akiane.

 

The Light Bearers

Barefoot, and wearing a yellow top and a flowing white skirt, Akiane sat on her paint-stained swiveling art chair   and twisted her long blonde hair around her fingers.

“I still do not have a title, but these five groups of bears represent five groups of people responding differently to God. This is an allegory. When the light shines from above, representing God and truth, only three groups notice it. One group runs away from it, even risking life. The next gets very angry, as it roars, and the third has the heads raised in awe, wonder and joy. They are the only ones with the reflection in the water because they are calm and peaceful. The other two groups have not noticed light at all. They are the fighters and the selfish. One group is busy fighting to get things and the other is busy taking care of just themselves. So the moral of this painting is this: do not run away from light, do not be angry with light, do not fight or think of yourself, otherwise, you will miss the light completely. Look up to God to live and God will provide.”