TV & VIDEO - May 9, 1989

Puppeteer Carroll Spinney, the face behind the beak of Sesame Street’s Big Bird and alter ego of Oscar the Grouch, has picked up an honorary degree--doctor of fine arts from the Art Institute of Boston. Spinney, a 1951 graduate of the institute, paid his way through school by giving puppet shows. The other honoree, painter Gyorgy Kepes, who heads MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies, gave the commencement address.