Students Excelling at Visual Arts and Music
Maida Liu '26 and Camille Pyo '26 are both accomplished artists, in music and the visual arts. Below, read about them and see examples of their beautiful and striking work.
Maida Liu '26
In 2025, Maida Liu '26 designed the poster for the school's annual Winter Band and Orchestra concerts and the Spring Pops concert. Then, a few months later, she performed in those concerts as first chair viola. Further indications of her wide-ranging artistic accomplishments and interests include founding and leading the school's Art, Apparel, and Accessories Club, participating with paint crew for SI theater productions, competing as a courtroom artist with SI Mock Trial, and that her illustrations were chosen to grace the covers of the 2023 and 2024 editions of The Quill literary magazine.
"I have played piano since I was 4 years old, but really got involved in orchestra when I was in sixth grade," Liu said. "That year, I picked viola because so many other people were choosing violin, and the lower sound of the viola was appealing to me. I have been very happy with that choice because the viola can take on so many different roles in a piece of music, whether up front or in the background. No matter what I am playing, nothing compares to the thrilling feeling of performing before an audience — whether that be in Bannan Theatre or in a festival during our annual orchestra trips."
Performing Arts Director and Orchestra Director Dr. Gillian Clements noted that Liu's abilities in both arts jumped out to her early on.
"Maida is a natural musician and gets a rich, beautiful tone out of her instrument, which isn't always the case when students play strings," said Dr. Clements. "Moreover, when she was a frosh, I ended up sitting next to her on the plane to New York when the orchestra traveled there over spring break, and I was absolutely stunned by the artwork she was doing on her iPad while we were on the flight!"
As much time as she devotes to music, Liu said she may spend even more on visual art.
"During the COVID pandemic, my interest in art grew when I realized it was a way to connect with others," she said. "As my skill increased with practice, I sold hand-drawn pet portraits in eighth grade, then custom-designed and painted clothing in ninth. In my sophomore year, I opened an Etsy shop to sell handmade phone cases, hair clips, and other accessories, and founded the Art, Apparel, and Accessories Club at SI to increase both an access to and appreciation for creativity. I've also found community with people through cosplay, and have enjoyed getting better at makeup, wig styling, prop construction, and photography."
Visual arts teacher Katie Wolf said, "Maida is a student who came to SI with considerable experience and developed talent in the arts. In visual arts, her exquisite attention to detail and her ability to envision and execute original concepts is of the highest quality; she excels in all aspects of visual expression and ignites others with her gift of creative beauty and excellence. For example, Maida's generosity in helping others to explore their own creativity and gain skill in visual expression has really shown in the work she has done on our large theatre sets. Teaching her peers techniques of theatrical painting and her patience in doing so stands out as a quality of commitment and kindness to our larger community."
Looking forward, Liu said she anticipates both music and visual art will remain avenues through which she can build positive relationships..
"Despite choosing a pre-med route at Johns Hopkins University with a major in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities, I would like to keep up with both the viola and other forms of creative expression," she said. "Although I won't pursue either professionally, I am confident that I can contribute my experience in the viola in a more informal setting, such as a student strings group or quartet. Additionally, I am committed to running and expanding my Etsy shop, and I look forward to acquiring new skills like sewing and upcycling clothing."
Camille Pyo '26
Art made by Camille Pyo '26 has been everywhere: from the pages of Inside SI, GENESIS magazine, and The Quill, to one of SI's official Christmas cards. As part of her exploration of digital art, she has also developed facility with animation. Her junior year, Pyo added another artistic pursuit when she began playing the harp, and performed on the instrument with the symphonic orchestra at SI's Winter Band and Orchestra concerts.
"I took piano lessons when I was young, and I sang in San Francisco Girls Chorus in elementary school, but I stepped back from music in high school," Pyo said. "After a couple years, I started getting musical FOMO from all my friends who had participated in performing arts at SI, but I also wanted to try something new, so I did some research and learned that piano to harp can be a more natural transition than people realize. I am happy with the progress I have made, and excited to keep practicing and getting better."
Dr. Clements said, "Last summer, Cami asked if she could play a piece with the orchestra, and her private harp teacher then emailed me glowing about the progress she had made on the harp after only playing for a few short months. Together, her harp teacher and I picked a piece that we thought would work well for Cami and our string orchestra, 'Fantasia on Greensleeves,' by English composer Ralph Vaughn-Williams."
Ms. Wolf effusively praised Pyo as an artist, saying, "It has been my great pleasure to watch Cami Pyo in her journey of exploring the visual arts. She has always experimented with a variety of mediums, materials, and styles in her creative expression. Her very developed ability in the use of digital media and traditional materials and her keen attention to detail allow her voice to shine through in all aspects of her art practice. Cami is able and willing to try new approaches in expressing her creative vision and this 'open to growth' attitude results in sharing with us that which she finds challenging, beautiful, and meaningful."
Pyo said that her experience with visual art and music inform each other in sometimes surprising ways. When she began animating, she quickly realized that her musical background gave her an understanding of visual rhythms that might not have been accessible to her otherwise. Going the other way, her experience with animation has also informed her musical performance.
"When you are animating something, it is often helpful to act out the motion yourself and gain a fuller understanding of the movements you want to show before you actually animate it," she said. "That experience of acting out and visualizing all parts of a movement have been very helpful as I have been learning harp, because with that instrument it is especially important to move my hands accurately in ways that are new to me."
As a visual artist, Pyo has been experimenting with digital media since elementary school, and said there is a place for all kinds of mediums in her practice.
"Traditional and digital mediums have their own strengths and I use them for different purposes," she said. "For example, when I am making something personal for friends or family, I am often drawn to making something where they can see it is handmade, such as a watercolor painting on a card. But no matter the medium, creating and bringing ideas from my head out into the world are what sustain me."
Visual Art by Maida Liu '26
Visual Art by Camille Pyo '26
