The guest juror for the 2024 Tyrone Art Show is an alumnus with incredible artistic talent and a compelling life story.
Class of 2015 graduate Lena Walk will return to TAHS on Friday, April 26 to judge 139 works of student-produced art on display in the high school auditorium from 1-4 pm.
Born in Novovoronconka, Ukraine, Walk was raised in an orphanage from ages 6 to 14.
In 2011, she and her younger brother moved to the United States after being adopted by Lori and Russy Walk of Tyrone.
When they first arrived in the US they spoke no English, and no one at Tyrone Area High School spoke Ukrainian.
“You know, I struggled really bad,” Walk said. “I thought I would never learn English. I remember crying about it. But once we got to school, we got a lot of help here.”
Walk credits Tyrone High School ESL teacher Rebecca Barlett with helping her learn English and transition to life in the United States.
“I think she did an amazing job teaching us how to speak. She had to start with the alphabet. Like, we didn’t really know the alphabet, let alone everything else,” Walk said.
While Barlett and others at Tyrone Area High School helped Walk learn the language and culture, art teacher Eric Feather helped her further develop her artistic skills.
“I remember when Lena first arrived here. She had a few pieces of artwork that displayed great skill and imagination for someone so young,” Feather said, “She started attending in the spring while the art classes were painting musical sets for Cinderella. I noticed she painted very quickly and skillfully. I put her to work on the set pieces right away. She was an enormous help and contributed greatly to the set pieces.”
Feather is impressed by how Walk has grown as an artist since he first met her in his class almost 13 years ago.
“Lena uses quick confident strokes of vibrant colors that create striking and lasting images,” Feather said. “It’s so satisfying to see her success as an artist although it’s no surprise to me. I remember Lena having a positive impact on the other students in the class through her enthusiasm for art and her dynamic personality.”
Walk can still recall the exact day she became interested in art.
As a youngster on the orphanage playground, tired from running around, she saw a group of students sitting quietly and drawing a picture of a tree. She went over and asked if she could draw with them.
Art teacher Inna Nikolaevna invited her to sit down and join them.
Nikolaevna recognized Walk’s talent right away.
“[The teacher said] ‘I really like the color palette you chose for the street. Do you want to come to the art class?’,” Walk said.
Walk avoided her invitation for weeks, before finally accepting when she realized that doing so could get her out of mandatory nap time.
They soon became close, and with Nikolsevna’s help, Walk’s artistic talent developed into a key part of her identity.
“She would take me home on a weekend. I mean, I’m sure other kids would have loved for somebody to come get them on a weekend. She would make me a nice breakfast and I would hang out with her. I don’t even know if she was legally allowed to do that, but she took me home. I was very close with her and I still talk to her,” Walk said.
Today Walk’s art is such a big part of her personality that she views the outside world through a lens of possible canvases.
“[When] I’m traveling around town or in Altoona, I will be like ‘they should just have somebody paint here’. I don’t know, it’s in my head 24-7. It is all I think about,” Walk said. ”I’m hoping that eventually, I’ll be able to travel and do this for a living everywhere in the world, maybe in Ukraine one day.”
Walk’s work can be seen in several places in Blair County, but she got her start as a professional artist from Tyrone developer Jeff Long, who hired her to paint murals at the Graystone Grande Palazzo in Altoona.
“Lena painted every single ceiling throughout the Grande Palazzo,” said Long. “She paints beautiful florals and clouds around each light fixture on the ceiling everywhere throughout the building. She often added birds or bees to add to each painting to make it even more unique.”
Long first met Walk in 2016 through his daughter who knew her from school.
“Lena started working for me in 2019. My daughter recommended her. I was a little hesitant at first since she was so young but after seeing her paint, I knew she had a true talent,” Long said.
Long provided Walk with the break she needed to make art a career.
Walk credits Long with encouraging her and giving her confidence in her work.
“He was very pleased and happy. I think that kind of boosted my confidence. I really like working for him. It was great,” Walk said.
“I am very proud to have been able to help Lena begin a career that she is passionate about and incredibly talented in. She has done many other great projects in the community as well,” Long said.
Walk creates all types of paintings, but commercially she specializes in ornate murals, ceilings, and doors.
She started her own business and has done murals for many small businesses and individuals have also hired her to do paintings in their homes.
One of Walk’s recent clients was Shannon Pugh, the owner of the Juice Shack in Duncansville.
“All the murals she painted really made the inside of my business pop. Her work gave my business the fun cool vibe I was looking for,” Pugh said.
Pugh is happy to see Lena Walk’s business grow and highly recommends her to other business owners.
Walk has also done projects at Coffee on Third in Duncansville and Kingview Mead, Wine, and Cider in Pittsburgh.
Walk said that she wants to travel more for projects and one day she hopes to be able to paint in Ukraine, but on Friday she will be back at Tyrone Area High School, judging the contest that she won back in 2015.
