American\/Portuguese interdisciplinary artist<\/a> Kristen Palana. The studio offers fine art prints, meaningful gifts, and original mixed-media artwork designed to uplift, rejuvenate, and inspire. Each piece is infused with love, positive energy, and intention\u2014ideal for personal spaces, sacred corners, or thoughtful gifting. Custom orders and commissions are also available for those seeking one-of-a-kind visual keepsakes.<\/p>\nWhat is a \u201cKalulu,\u201d you ask? It\u2019s the Chichewa word for rabbit in Malawi, where Kristen lived with her humanitarian husband, two sons, and two spoiled Myanmar street cats from 2019 to 2024. In many cultures, rabbits symbolize abundance, creativity, rebirth, and luck.<\/p>\n
Kristen\u2019s mixed-media work draws from her experiences living and working across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. After nearly a decade in Malawi and Myanmar, she recently returned to Italy, where she now lives and works.<\/p>\n
Her symbolic, pattern-rich drawings are inspired by global traditions, ancient symbols, sacred geometry, and a love of color psychology. Infused with rustic textures and ancestral patterns, her work aims to soothe and reinvigorate weary (yet unapologetic!) idealists\u2014offering a call to action to envision better outcomes for our personal lives, communities, and the planet. Increasingly, her art explores interactive, collaborative, and multi-sensory formats\u2014bridging handmade techniques with digital innovation to create immersive experiences and healing tools.<\/p>\n
As an educator, Kristen has taught at universities and NGOs on four continents. She co-founded the Digital Media track of the Communication and Digital Media Program at The American University of Rome, where she earned tenure in 2009 and later led the Film and Digital Media Program. From 2016 to 2024, she expanded her teaching and consulting to institutions and international agencies across Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, including the American University of Myanmar, Thalun International School, WHO, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, GIZ, the British High Commission Malawi, the Australian High Commission Malawi, and UNFPA.<\/p>\n
When not making fine art, she continues to work as an educator and creative consultant, delivering in-person, hybrid, and online courses for students around the world. Her learners have included refugees, diplomats, creative professionals, and individuals living on less than $2 a day\u2014underscoring her commitment to inclusion and empowerment.<\/p>\n
Kristen\u2019s current art practice evolved from a long career in digital media and animation. Her award-winning short films have screened at over 75 international festivals, including Cannes Short Film Festival, Italy International Film Festival, and Sunscreen Film Festival. In 2021, she shifted focus\u2014returning to her fine art roots and creating handmade work that invites stillness, reflection, and intentionality.<\/p>\n
Kristen began her creative journey as a teenager wanting to make art that healed. After years of wearing many hats\u2014professor, animator, designer, and communication consultant\u2014she\u2019s come full circle to that early vision. Today, her drawings offer what she calls \u201cimpossible gifts\u201d: strength, clarity, peace, abundance, protection\u2014things you can\u2019t buy in a store, but can offer others through intentional, energy-infused art.<\/p>\n","url":"https:\/\/www.makalulustudio.com","url_text":"www.makalulustudio.com","main_services":"fine art","intro_text":"","image_1":false,"client_review":"","why_we":"","history":"","image_2":false,"image_3":false},"yoast_head":"\n
Art by Kristen Palana - Ma Kalulu Studio - 5 Star Featured Members<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/art-by-kristen-palana-ma-kalulu-studio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Art by Kristen Palana - Ma Kalulu Studio - 5 Star Featured Members\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/art-by-kristen-palana-ma-kalulu-studio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"5 Star Featured Members\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-16T14:17:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-18T15:18:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kristen Peach\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Art by Kristen Palana - Ma Kalulu Studio - 5 Star Featured Members","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/art-by-kristen-palana-ma-kalulu-studio\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Art by Kristen Palana - Ma Kalulu Studio - 5 Star Featured Members","og_url":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/art-by-kristen-palana-ma-kalulu-studio\/","og_site_name":"5 Star Featured Members","article_published_time":"2025-07-16T14:17:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-18T15:18:16+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kristen Peach"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/#website","url":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/","name":"5 Star Featured Members","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/art-by-kristen-palana-ma-kalulu-studio\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/art-by-kristen-palana-ma-kalulu-studio\/","name":"Art by Kristen Palana - Ma Kalulu Studio - 5 Star Featured Members","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-07-16T14:17:55+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-18T15:18:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/#\/schema\/person\/dba3ba63751be104c1fe95f4e5acd541"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/art-by-kristen-palana-ma-kalulu-studio\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/art-by-kristen-palana-ma-kalulu-studio\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/art-by-kristen-palana-ma-kalulu-studio\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Art by Kristen Palana – Ma Kalulu Studio"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/#\/schema\/person\/dba3ba63751be104c1fe95f4e5acd541","name":"Kristen Peach","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63b574d1c5cdb4879fadec4514fccb76881f604509351c59a272e75b17046fa8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/63b574d1c5cdb4879fadec4514fccb76881f604509351c59a272e75b17046fa8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kristen Peach"},"url":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/author\/kristen-peach\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78936"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79059,"href":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78936\/revisions\/79059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}