Kermit the Frog. Oscar the Grouch. Cookie Monster. Big Bird.
Between the mid-1950s and the mid-1970s, Leland native Jim Henson spent his time creating these iconic television characters and others known to people of all ages all over the world.
Beginning Saturday, Jan. 12, visitors of The MAX, Mississippi’s arts and entertainment experience, will have the opportunity to tour The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited, a traveling exhibition that explores the life of the multi-talented artist and the impact that his whimsical creations had on popular culture.
The exhibit’s opening day will include “Celebrating Jim Henson and the Art of Puppetry,” a lecture from Henson’s daughter, Cheryl. She will share clips and personal stories with visitors beginning at 10 a.m. There will also be a panel discussion from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. featuring Miss Piggy creator Bonnie Erickson, Cheryl Henson, and Karen Falk, The Jim Henson Company Director of Archives. “The Legacy of Jim Henson: A Panel Discussion by Henson Experts” will take place at the Mississippi State University Riley Center for the Performing Arts and is free of charge to the public.
Before coming to Mississippi, which was in the plans shortly after The MAX opened in spring 2018, Imagination Unlimited was showcased in New York, Seattle and Los Angeles. This is the first and last time the exhibit will travel to the southeastern region of the country.
“Jim Henson was a creator and entertainer with a unique vision, and he had a tremendous influence on our culture by giving us these magical characters and worlds that many of us grew up with,” Mark Tullos, executive director of The MAX, said in a press release. “This is yet another story of a native Mississippian who left his mark on the world, and this exhibit allows visitors to retrace Henson’s life from his early years in Leland, Mississippi, to the studios of PBS to the film sets of major motion pictures.”
Featuring character sketches, storyboards, scripts, photographs, film and television clips, behind-the-scenes footage, iconic costumes and over 20 puppets, the exhibit is both comprehensive and interactive.
Through behind-the-scenes glimpses, children and adults will discover how Henson and his crew of voice actors, builders and creators developed a famous family of puppets and characters that welcomed viewers into the magical worlds of Sesame Street, The Muppets, Fraggle Rock, and The Dark Crystal.
After taking a brief look at Henson’s early life and learning of the mechanics and creative brain power that contributed to some of his first creations, visitors may be inspired take advantage of the interactive opportunities provided in the exhibit — and see what it’s like to puppeteer on camera and design an original puppet character.
“This is a world-class exhibition,” Tullos said. “One of our objectives at The MAX has been to provide such amazing and exciting attractions as this one in addition to the experience offered by our permanent exhibits here.”
For more information on Imagination Unlimited, which will end its run at The MAX May 4, click here.
Republish this article
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
- Look for the "Republish This Story" button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS).
- Editorial cartoons and photo essays are not included under the Creative Commons license and therefore do not have the "Republish This Story" button option. To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
- You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
- You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
- Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
- If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.
- You have to credit Mississippi Today. We prefer “Author Name, Mississippi Today” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Mississippi Today” and include our website, mississippitoday.org.
- You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
- You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor Kayleigh Skinner for more information). To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
- Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.
- You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
- You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection.
- Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
- If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.