Learn how these student leaders are helping to drive collaboration and innovation in the School of Art community.
The School of Art proudly introduces the inaugural members of the newly reformed Student Advisory Committee (SAC). Representing students from every class year and nominated by their peers, this dedicated group serves as a bridge between the student body and School leadership, bringing fresh perspectives, thoughtful feedback, and innovative ideas to the table. Open to BFA and BXA-Art students, SAC members work closely with administrators and contribute to initiatives that impact the entire School of Art community. Below, meet the talented students who are shaping the future of the School of Art and explore their unique artistic practices.
First Years
Joana Liu
Joana Liu’s work is introspective of the various aspects of identity and placement, extending from the aftermath of COVID-19 on her heritage, childhood, and family to curious present-day senate bills in Texas regarding immigration policies. She especially enjoys employing halos, glows, and flowing compositions in her pieces. Currently, Joana is extending her practice into more experimental realms and exploring new media as she encounters it. More of her art can be found on Instagram at @joonikli.tart.
Annie Marcelino
Annie Marcelino is a BSA student majoring in Biology and Fine Arts. Her work primarily centers around her Korean-Filipino heritage, as well as whatever interests her in the moment. Mugunghwas, hanboks, and sampaguitas are often hidden among her paintings. Her recent works center around moments of transition, capturing the intangible ebb and flow of time. Although Annie usually works with acrylic paint, she has been experimenting more with sculpture and watercolors.
Sophomores
Nicole Si Yao Huang
Nicole Si Yao Huang is a student of the Fine Arts. At times, her practice manifests as a pile of writings or markmakings, serving as a witness to fleeting thoughts and feelings. Other times, they take the form of paintings, ceramics, or sculptures—materials that allow her to lose herself and all sense of time in the process. Above all, the core of her practice exists in a project-based nature. Depending on her research, she dedicates her obsession to whichever medium resonates most. Poetics, romance, and lyrical motion deeply influence Nicole’s aesthetics, while her everyday life is consumed by listening to dreams and curating archives. Her current research investigates “What is Love?”
Quinn Bryant
Quinn Bryant believes representation inspires, gives hope, and leads to diversity and inclusion. Quinn’s large-scale oil paintings use the human figure to encapsulate personal narratives of identity and foster cultural diversity. History plays a critical role in her work. She draws on the teachings of Zora Neale Hurston and studies Anthropology and Global Studies to understand how humans interact biologically and socially. Inspired by artists such as Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley, Quinn adopts photography as a sketchbook, shaping her finished paintings through photographs and conversations with her models. Art History is the foundation of Quinn’s paintings. She is mesmerized by the skill of Baroque and Renaissance masters like Caravaggio and Jean-Honoré Fragonard but feels disconnected from their Eurocentric hierarchies and Victorian beauty standards. She analyzes classical techniques and reclaims them for representation. Her painting Lift Me Up uses Renaissance and religious imagery, including stained glass windows and symbolic elements of nature, to convey emotions of support, grief, and hope. Her work celebrates progression, culture, and empowerment.
Juniors
Kate Myers
Kate Myers is a junior pursuing a BFA with a minor in animation. She focuses on storytelling in her artwork, blending horror and comedy to create engaging, visceral expressions. She explores themes of mortality and self through the physicality of the human body, creating and recreating bodily textures in abnormal contexts. Collaboration is a key part of her practice; Kate runs a comic business with a friend, Maddie, and creates practical and makeup effects for her film crew, Just a Head Productions.
Mo Nash
Morgan (Mo) Nash is studying at Carnegie Mellon University, where they are pursuing a BFA in Art with a concentration in SIS (Sculpture, Installation, and Site Work). Their practice revolves around touch, creating art objects that are interactive, tactile, squishable, and approachable, primarily using silicone, foam, fabric, and clay. Throughout their time at CMU, Mo has discovered a passion for education and seeks opportunities to integrate learning into art-making. Outside the studio, Mo works with Carnegie Mellon’s Residential Education as a Community Advisor and edits for the school’s art publication, Lemon. They also have a cat, Fraggle, who enjoys eating book pages.
Seniors
Lillian van Veen
Lillian van Veen is a painter and textile artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. They frequently work in the language of beading, mending, and sewing, often using a personal archive of clothing worn while presenting femininely. Their practice investigates the social function of clothing in gender expression. Prominent themes in their work include flagging, self-ornamentation, and the use of clothing as a tool for coding information.
Karny
Karny is a flamboyant creator and avid questioner of most things. They enjoy intimate conversations with strangers, closely observing human and nonhuman ecologies, and channeling intuition within these exchanges. Through processes of slow meditative thought and empathy for their surroundings, Karny explores many modes of perception, transforming experiences into movement. This movement takes shape through creation, whether in poetry, drawing, dance, sculpture, or tattooing.