Dana Sleger grew up watching her mother paint — a prophetic artist who “catches” colors and pictures. So when Dana first saw Akiane Kramarik’s Prince of Peace, she recognized something profoundly different, and brought her mother to Belóved Gallery to see it in person. In our latest #iam_beloved story of faith, Dana describes being “hugged by peace” from the moment she walked in, and what it means to let a painting speak. Watch her story below, then read it in her own words.
“It is my joy and my privilege to be His beloved for all the days of my life.” — Dana Sleger
Dana Sleger comes from a family of prophetic artists — her mother paints the colors and images she “catches,” so Dana grew up fluent in the idea that art can carry more than what it depicts. Visiting Belóved Gallery with her mother, she was struck first by the porcelain wall of blue and gold, then by the deepening peace that led her to Akiane Kramarik’s Prince of Peace. Drawing on C.S. Lewis’s description of a “bright shadow” that baptized his imagination in holiness, Dana describes prophetic art as indirect communication — an invitation to encounter Jesus, where truth awakens from within each viewer. Her #iam_beloved story is a call to come with open ears and ask what the painting has to show you.
My mom is a prophetic artist, and I grew up with her painting — these beautiful colors and pictures that she would catch — and she knows Akiane’s story. Growing up in the church, you see different paintings of Jesus. You see Him crying, you see Him laughing. And when I saw this one, there was something profoundly different about it. I was captivated by it. I knew I wanted to set up a time when we could come visit.
When we first walked into the gallery together, we were immediately taken by the porcelain wall — the blue and the gold, how it reflects and looks like water. It’s like you’re being hugged by peace even when you’re in the lobby. And then that peace intensifies as you walk through. You read the words on the wall, you look at the paintings, and you can feel the peace getting stronger and stronger. It leads you around the corner to other paintings, and then you finally encounter the painting Prince of Peace.
You are struck. It goes from seeing a painting on the internet or in a book to standing in front of it in person. All I could do was look into the eyes of Jesus — it’s like an eternal landscape that keeps going and going. You feel the invitation to know Him more, to connect with His heartbeat, to live life connected to the pulse of heaven, and it moves you. You can’t help but cry. My mom cried. My friends cried. I cried. The people in front of me were crying. It was a real treasure to see one prophetic artist meet another through canvas, and my mom was very moved by that. To bring her here was a beautiful story for our family.
The beautiful thing about prophetic art is that there’s an element of indirect communication to it. With direct communication, someone can tell you a profound truth and you receive it. But prophetic art is different. There’s indirect communication, which means you can extract a variety of meanings — truth awakens from within someone. You could have a thousand people come in and get a thousand different meanings of what that painting is to them.
One of my favorite stories is about C.S. Lewis. It’s documented that one day he was reading a story by George MacDonald, and as he read, he could remember what he describes as a bright shadow that leapt off the page and baptized his imagination in holiness. I find that with prophetic art, in the case of Akiane, you can see how her imagination was baptized in holiness, and how she brought that imagination to describe what she was seeing. Akiane captured something really special in this painting, Prince of Peace.
I believe there’s a beckoning, if you will. I believe God still speaks, and it’s an invitation to have an encounter with Him. There’s a scripture in Proverbs that I love: “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both.” I want to encourage people — whether they’ve come through the gallery already or they’re preparing to visit — that God still speaks. He can speak through paintings, through art, through creativity. We see it every day. We are in partnership with the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and God is longing to speak with His sons and daughters.
Coming to the gallery is an invitation to encounter Jesus on a deeper level. I would tell people: keep your ears open, and ask the question, “What truth, Jesus, do You want to show me through this painting?” There are too many things in my life that I can look back on that are so filled with the wonder of God, so filled with His love, that not for one moment could I ever doubt my faith in Him, my love for Him, and His love for me. It is my joy and my privilege to be His beloved for all the days of my life.
