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Puppeteer Matt Vogel gives life to Count von Count and Big Bird on “Sesame Street.” (Photo courtesy of Sesame Workshop; photo illustration by John DiJulio, University Communications)

Q&A: How Do You Become a ‘Sesame Street’ Puppeteer?

"Sesame Street” is coming to the University of Virginia’s Grounds. Cast members from the friendliest street in America will perform Thursday at Carr’s Hill for an Arts on the Hill event, following a workshop with students in Helms Theatre. Sesame Street puppeteer Matt Vogel, who gives life to Count von Count and Big Bird, is one of the cast members who will perform at Carr’s Hill. Vogel talked to UVA Today ahead of the performance about how he joined the show’s cast and some of the most surprising things about being on the show.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/qa-how-do-you-become-sesame-street-puppeteer

Russ Warren, Lyn Warren, 2024. Sennelier oil pastel on 600 lb rag paper, 29.5 x 22"
Visual Art

Russ Warren: FACES + David Hawkins: New Works

Les Yeux du Monde is pleased to present two new exhibitions, Russ Warren: FACES, and David Hawkins: New Works, which will open Friday, March 28th and run through Sunday, May 4th.

https://www.lydmgallery.com/events/russ-warren-faces-david-hawkins-new-works/

One of the scrolls in Maria Villanueva’s “Free to Be, a Collective Virginia Landscape” installation.
Visual Art

‘Free to Be’: New art installation in Shannon investigates our shared Charlottesville landscape

On the second floor of Shannon Library, two massive mixed-media collages hanging side by side are catching the attention of passers-by. The art installation, titled “Free to Be, a Collective Virginia Landscape,” is the work of Maria Villanueva, an Assistant Professor of Art who arrived at UVA in August. Using layered transfers of photographs, gouache and watercolor paints, and colored pencils, Villanueva mixes Charlottesville’s urban spaces with the lush landscape of the Blue Ridge Mountains, interspersing local birds, people, and texts into the visual narrative, all presented on giant scrolls.

https://library.virginia.edu/news/2025/free-be-new-art-installation-shannon-investigates-our-shared-charlottesville-landscape

Nici Cumpston :: Photo by Saul Steed
Visual Art

Nici Cumpston: Indigenous Artist Turned Curator to Lead Overseas Museum

Nici Cumpston has played a transformative role at the Art Gallery of South Australia. Over the past 16 years she has driven First Nations curatorial practice to new heights, shaping what began as a biennial exhibition into a festival of contemporary Indigenous art that surveys artmaking across the continent.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-art-show/nici-cumpston-kluge-ruhe-tarnanthi/104932580

John Fox Sullivan and Beverly Knight Sullivan, May 20, 2021. Matthew Dunn Photography.
Visual Art

The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia Receives Landmark Gift of Haitian Art from the Collection of John Fox Sullivan and Beverly Knight Sullivan

The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia (The Fralin/the Museum) (UVA) today announced a transformative gift of modern Haitian art from the Collection of John Fox Sullivan and Beverly Knight Sullivan—considered one of the foremost collections in the United States. Among the approximately 100 promised works are 70 paintings by internationally celebrated artists as well as metalwork, assemblages, and drapo Vodou (also known as Haitian flags).

March 6, 2025
Ernst Prophete, "Terrier Rougue 1915, Repaire des Cacos (Cacos Hideout)" (1975) (all photos by Matthew Dunn, courtesy the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia)
Visual Art

Virginia Museum Receives “Transformative” Gift of Haitian Art

For over three decades, textile artist Myrlande Constant has depicted scenes from Haitian history, religion, and daily life through the large-scale, labor-intensive beaded embroidery of traditional Vodou flags. Now, her work will join the permanent collection of the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, as part of a landmark gift of approximately 100 modern and contemporary Haitian artworks from collectors John Fox Sullivan and his late wife Beverly Sullivan.

https://hyperallergic.com/994202/virginia-museum-receives-transformative-gift-of-haitian-art/

Phaeton Gallery Logo with Color Wheel
Visual Art

Arts This Week: The Phaeton Gallery

The Phaeton Gallery is hosting an opening reception as part of a joint exhibition for works by Krista Townsend and Nikki Hare for arts. This week, we spoke with artist Krista Townsend and Lisa Hogan with the gallery.

https://www.wtju.net/arts-this-week-the-phaeton-gallery/

Fourth-year student Mary Hall is a co-director of the free-form student radio station WXTJ. She was recruited to the station in her first year. (Photo by Kelly West, University Communications)
Music

The Music Beat: Breaking the Algorithm’s Rhythm, These Students Give Music the Human Touch

Every week before his radio show on the University of Virginia’s student-run station WXTJ, co-director Jacob Hobbs asks himself a question: “What do I want to subject everyone to this week?” Hobbs, along with fellow WXTJ co-director Mary Hall, hosts “High Up and Low Down,” a radio show that features house music, neo-soul and tracks by artists like Lady Gaga and Charli XCX. The show, Hall said, is “haphazard.” That’s by design. “Our station is special because it’s entirely free-form,” Hall said.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/breaking-algorithms-rhythm-these-students-give-music-human-touch

Dr. R. Suryaprakash
Music

Arts This Week: SPICMACAY Spring Concert

The UVA Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth (SPICMACAY) is hosting their Spring Concert on Saturday, March 1st. For Arts This Week, we spoke to the SPICMACAY at UVA co-presidents, Bhadra Kadangal and Aashni Shetty.

https://www.wtju.net/arts-this-week-spicmacay-spring-concert/

A collage of photos of Kiera Chambers on the set of "Saturday Night Live," with some images of the studio's signs.
Film

How a UVA Student Landed Backstage at ‘SNL50’

Few college internships offer the chance to work alongside comedy and music legends, but for University of Virginia fourth-year student Kiera Chambers, it was another day at the office at the “SNL50: The Anniversary Special.”

https://news.virginia.edu/content/how-uva-student-landed-backstage-snl50