The Tiger Walk is a time-honored tradition. Every tiger painting in NAI was painted by a student. One gets chosen each year to be left to define that year’s class. This year is a black and white tiger that has roman numerals that mean 2020. It is done in painstaking detail as all the paintings seem to be done in. It’s pretty clear that a lot of time is spent on these paintings. Even last year redefined what a Tiger painting means. As it was just the words Tiger Painting and they won. It shows how each year looks at everything just a little differently.

 This year’s winner was Benjamin Pizon. I interviewed him, Mr. Bokhoven, Rose Boley, and Alana Liwosz.

Benjamin’s response to our questions.

NAEye: What was your inspiration for the painting?

Ben: I wanted a realistic tiger painting that left room for the audience to connect with. That is the reason for a negative spaced background, it leaves an abstract aspect for the audience to imagine themselves what is really there. The tiger is a mesh between six photos I used as guides for fur, texture, and details. 

  The overall intention was to create a clean illustration, reminiscent of Roman architecture. This is very apparent in the Roman numerals: “MMXXII”, which is our class graduation year, 2022. Like the simplistic beauty of Roman architecture, the monochromatic tone allowed me to focus primarily on the realistic aspects of the texture and light throughout the tiger. 

NAEye: Do you want to pursue art as a career?

Ben: I don’t believe that I would want art to be as a career, but more of a hobby or an escape from the stress-filled world. I do wish to take my art skills into a field of creativity such as engineering design or architecture.

NAEye: Approximately how long did you spend on the painting?

Ben: Over the course of about 2 months (1 at school and 1 at home), I spent a total of 24 days on it. To see the progression of the piece itself, I thought it would be interesting if I would take a photo every day.

NAEye: What do you think about your painting staying to represent your class?

Ben: It is a great honor to be able to represent our class of 2022 through the school of NAI, and I would like to thank all my classmates for giving me this honor.

NAEye: What are your opinions on the other paintings?  

Ben: Oh boy, where do I begin? They were all tremendously beautiful and spectacular in their own way. To be honest, not that I did not have confidence in myself, but I thought that there were many paintings better than my own.

Mr. Bockhovens responses to our questions:

NAEye: How old is the tiger painting tradition?

Mr. Bokhoven: It started, when the administration wanted to put tigers around the school. Because the school was not NA’s colors. The older art teacher started the paintings in 2008.

NAEye: What do you think of the tiger paintings this year?

Mr. Bokhoven: They are awesome! There are so many different takes on the idea of the tiger and see what they all bring to the table. They’re awesome every year but this year really blew me away.

NAEye: How long do students spend on the Paintings? 

Mr. Bokhoven: 2 months, one month in class and one outside of class.

NAEye: Which paintings do you like best? 

Mr. Bokhoven: All the paintings are great but my favorite are the technical ones. Like the one that involves a tiger jumping in water.

Alana L: an art 3 student

NAEye: What was your inspiration for the painting? 

Alana: I was inspired by a painting that appears similar to mine. I couldn’t tell you who originally created the painting design, but the moment I saw it, I wanted to convey the same style and emotion as the original artist had. However, I did not copy directly! That would mean I would have been partially taking credit for their work. I did make mine similar though because of how much I loved its appearance.

NAEye: Do you want to pursue art as a career? 

Alana: No, I will not take on art in my future. I do wish to minor in it during college, but it takes a lot of talent and commitment to take art on as a carrier that I just don’t believe I have. There are just too many hardships when you decide to be a full-time artist. 

NAEye: Approximately how long did you spend on the painting? 

Alana: I would say it took me 24 hours on my painting in total, but that answer isn’t definite. 

NAEye: What do you think about your painting staying to represent your class?

Alana: Now the premise of my painting was more focused on how I see this school and think it gets overlooked a lot. Many other schools have problems with violence and bullying, but here at NA, I think we’re much better than many other schools. Our school may not be perfect, but we definitely are a safer school for all races and backgrounds, and through all the variety of colors, I wanted to focus on that. Though, my painting also focuses a bit on my own interests since I loved the abstract style at the time. 

NAEye: What are your opinions on the other paintings?

Alana: Finally, I would like to say that I am very proud of how much work and effort everyone did. We all tried our very hardest even when some of us wanted to give on our paintings during the final stretch. I think they all turned out wonderfully, and I’m so happy that my personal favorite painting won! I think it was well done, and truly expresses the fierce presence of NA.

Rose B: another Art 3 student

NAEye: What was your inspiration for the painting?

Rose: For the tiger painting, the older paintings from last year inspired me to create my own! 

NAEye: Do you want to pursue art as a career?

Rose: Honestly, I am not really sure but I definitely want to pursue a side job of some sort that is art related! 

NAEye: Approximately how long did you spend on the painting?

Rose: I spent about four months of class time on that painting.

NAEye: What do you think about your painting staying to represent your class?

Rose: I mean, It is only staying for up to next year but I guess it is to express that oh hey we are North Allegheny and we are the NA tigers have some pride people! kinda feel in a way to express more pride in our district 

NAEye: What are your opinions on the other paintings?  

Rose: I think everyone did an outstanding job and everyone was really creative! 

Here are some pictures from around the school of the tiger paintings: 

(All photos are of art made by art 3 students)

Gallery • 17 Photos