Arts & Culture

These Creatures Moved and Grooved on Grounds

April 29, 2024 • By Alice Berry, aberry@virginia.edu Alice Berry, aberry@virginia.edu

UVA students donned special backpacks to parade the two large puppets from Arts Grounds to the Rotunda and the Corner. (Video by Mitch Powers and Kelly West, University Communications)

A feathered dragon named Celeste descended upon the University of Virginia on Friday.

She, along with her crustacean companion Kiki, paraded from Arts Grounds outside Culbreth Theatre to the Rotunda and back as part of the Stan Winston and Steven Warner Festival of the Moving Creature.

Technical Director of Drama Steve Warner, along with architecture instructor and fabrication lab director Melissa Goldman and studio art technician Eric Schmidt started the Art of the Moving Creature course in 2012, a two-semester sequence that culminated in the first Festival. Every subsequent year, Warner taught a smaller, one-semester version of the course. This is the second year the festival has been put on, in partnership with the Stan Winston School of Character Arts, named after UVA alumnus and Hollywood special effects legend Stan Winston.

Warner’s widow, Bri Bélanger-Warner, offered remarks before Celeste and Kiki – huge, colorful, and most definitely mobile puppets – embarked on their journey across Grounds.

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“I feel incredibly blessed to share in this very special evening, one where my husband’s love and spirit can definitely be felt all around,” Bélanger-Warner said.

This year, Goldman and drama instructor Annie Temmink taught the course together.

Community members had the chance to make their own puppets during Charlottesville’s Tom Tom Festival to bring along to the celebration.

Members of the UVA community watched as Kiki and Celeste flirted with University Transit Service buses and briefly tussled on the Lawn, before kicking off a dance party with the “Cupid Shuffle.”

Take a look below at some of the photos from the festival.

Celeste's head held by Reese Robers while working on the frame

Students spent the Spring Semester designing and making the puppets. Reese Robers demonstrates the scale of creature Celeste's head. (Contributed Photo)

Creatures Celeste and Kiki mingle with the crowd at UVA Arts Grounds

Parade attendees had the opportunity to try carrying the puppets themselves. (Photo by Clara Castle, University Communications)

Bri Bélanger-Warner holds her hand into the air to show her appreciation for the continuation of her husband's work

Bri Bélanger-Warner, widow of the festival’s namesake, spoke before the parade. (Photo by Clara Castle, University Communications)

Kid pets "Celeste" before running back to family

Children in the crowd had the chance to come up and pet the puppets. (Photo by Clara Castle, University Communications)

Melissa Goldman, left, and Annie Temmink sit before the crowd and creatures and smile

Melissa Goldman, left, and Annie Temmink, right, helped teach the course. (Photo by Clara Castle, University Communications)

Celeste, pictured here, and Kiki stopped briefly in front of the statue of Thomas Jefferson in front of the Rotunda. (Photo by Clara Castle, University Communications)