Cornelius the Caterpillar
Cornelius the Caterpillar is a luminous, larger-than-life puppet created in 2017 by Toni Mikulka-Chang, founder of ArtJoy, as part of a complete Monarch Butterfly lifecycle series. This series was conceived as both a work of visual poetry and an act of environmental advocacy—drawing attention to the cycles of life, transformation, impermanence, and the fragile, fleeting beauty of the monarch butterfly.
At its heart, the project is also a call to action: to protect pollinators and all living creatures, and to confront the devastating impact of pesticides and industrial agriculture on native insect species and ecosystems.
Cornelius represents a stage of becoming—a living symbol of growth, vulnerability, and the long, miraculous process of change.
Materials & Construction
Cornelius is built using a hybrid of traditional Bread and Puppet–style techniques and fine textile craft:
Face: Sculpted using papier-mâché in the Bread and Puppet tradition
Internal structure: Formed around a recycled child’s crawl-through play tunnel, giving the body its segmented shape and flexibility
Body: Made from hand-painted silk using silk sourced from a sustainable farm in India
Finish: The silk is steam-set, creating a rich, translucent, luminous surface
The translucent silk body allows Cornelius to glow from within at night using internal lighting, transforming the puppet into a floating, magical creature that feels both earthly and otherworldly.
Scale, Movement & Performance
Cornelius is a large-scale, multi-segmented puppet designed to be operated by three puppeteers. Together, they animate the body in undulating, wave-like motion, creating the illusion of a living, breathing caterpillar moving through space.
The coordinated movement of three performers gives Cornelius an organic, playful, and expressive presence, especially in parades, installations, and immersive outdoor performances.
The puppet is 6-8’ long depending on the movement, and can be as tall as 9’ to 6’ high depending on the pole height.
Purpose & Ongoing Life
Cornelius the Caterpillar was created to help audiences connect emotionally with the vulnerability of pollinators and the profound importance of protecting the ecological systems that support them. As part of ArtJoy’s Giant Puppets Save the World collection, the puppet continues to appear in performances and installations focused on interdependence, stewardship, and care for living systems.
