New puppetry museum celebrates Jim Henson’s creativity

Beginning Nov. 15. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays; noon-5 p.m. Sundays. Last entry 4:30 p.m. each day. $10.50 ages 2 and older; free for members. 404-873-3391, puppet.org.

Wearing a hard hat tricked out like a chicken, complete with googly eyes, faux feathers and a beak, Cheryl Henson toured the Center for Puppetry Arts’ museum expansion project two months prior to its Nov. 14 opening.

It was a fitting accessory for the daughter of late puppetry icon Jim Henson.

That kind of playfulness remains at the heart of the center’s 15,000-square-foot, $14 million Worlds of Puppetry Museum. Paid for by individual and corporate donations, the museum broke ground in June 2014 and celebrates its grand opening Nov. 14 with day-long festivities.

The museum features two galleries. Enter and turn right for the Global Collection Gallery, a trans-continental experience showcasing 175 puppets and artifacts representing five continents.

Turn left and it’s all Henson, all the time

When Cheryl Henson, president of the Jim Henson Foundation, and Karen Falk, archivist for the Jim Henson Company, toured the gallery back in September, there was much work still to be done but both walked out with the same smiling eyes fans of Jim Henson’s work have been wearing for decades.

“It exceeds what we imagined they might do here,” Falk said.

“The scale is extraordinary,” added Henson.

The seeds for the Jim Henson Collection Gallery were planted in 2007 when Jim Henson family’s donated more than 500 puppets and artifacts, including puppets and props from “Sesame Street,” “The Muppet Show,” “Fraggle Rock” and “The Dark Crystal,” to the center.

Cheryl Henson recalled first meeting Vince Anthony, president and executive director of the Center for Puppetry Arts, in 1974 at a Puppeteers of America festival in New Orleans. The center was still a dream at the time, but Anthony was there raising funds and awareness.

“I remember him talking to my dad about it and getting my dad on board,” Henson said. “He got my dad to commit to the opening, and he … cut the ribbon (in 1978). Ever since then we’ve been coming back and forth to Atlanta, participating in different fund-raising events, exhibits and shows.

“We’ve been in discussions with the center for quite a long time,” Henson continued. “We talked about what the size would be, how many puppets would work well with Atlanta. It’s been a fascinating experience and project, and Karen and I have been involved throughout these eight-and-a-half, nine years. It’s fabulous to see it actually happening.”

The Henson gallery features a rotating roster of more than 75 items on view at any given time and unfolds chronologically over Henson’s 35-year career, starting with “Sam and Friends,” a local Washington, D.C., TV show from the late ’50s, on to “Sesame Street,” “The Muppet Show” and beyond. Highlights include re-creations of Henson’s office and a Henson puppet workshop, as well as an interactive, operational TV studio that “feels like you’re in an actual television studio,” Henson said. “It’s marvelous.”

The AJC sat down with Henson and Falk after their tour for an exclusive conversation.

On the Henson family donation

Henson: The family was interested in doing some kind of a museum. We never wanted to ever have my dad's puppets go on sale. My father never gave away his puppets. He always held onto them, and we wanted to hold onto them too and have them on display at a museum. (When) the Center for Puppetry Arts got a humanities grant to expand their exhibition space, I think I contacted Vince and asked, "How big are you going to go? We have this really cool collection. Is this something that would be interesting?" He said, "Oh, yeah. That would be cool."

On the gallery’s mission

Henson: The goal was not to just celebrate my dad, but to inspire people to create their own work. He was always encouraging other artists to create their own thing, to make work. I think that’s what we’re hoping to do. We don’t want to put my father on a pedestal, but to say, “Hey, here’s this really creative guy, and you all can be creative too.”

Falk: There’s this through-story of Jim Henson’s innovation, willingness to try new things and persistence. If something doesn’t work, you can try it another way. And that comes through the exhibit and his life story. Any artist could hopefully take that to heart and be inspired to keep moving forward and do what they want to do.

On selecting items for exhibit

Falk: Of course, you want to put out some of the greatest hits that everyone wants to see. You want to see Ernie and Bert, and Big Bird. We wanted to make sure we represented each era and each character group. So we chose a range. There was also the desire to show some of the puppets that maybe people didn’t know about or were particularly innovative on the puppet side of things, since this is a puppet center. It was a lot of picking and choosing.

Henson: That was actually very important to our family. Other museums might want to only show well-known characters. We felt that at the Center for Puppetry Arts, the lesser-known or unknown characters had just as much appeal, because it’s the texture of his creativity. Not everything he put out there was a success, but it was all valid and it all had very interesting puppetry in it.

On the center’s importance to artists

Falk: The general public comes to the center, but it’s a mecca for puppeteers. They come here to enhance what they know about puppetry and connect with the art in general. So hopefully seeing the range of Jim’s work will signal the value of experimentation.

Henson: The Center for Puppetry Arts is the center for puppetry in America. There is no other place like this in this country. And that’s one reason why we want to be here.