I visited this exhibition at the Smithsonian today. I had no prior knowledge of Jim Henson except that he made the Muppets and Sesame Street. Like most kids I was enamored by both of the shows as a child.

It was a kick to see Kermit and Rolf the Dog. Interesting to see all of the sketches and storyboards Henson produced while creating all of the characters. Couple things I didn’t know about him were that he was a legit cartoonist and graphic designer to say the least, he made a short art film that’s worth looking at, and his first Muppet-like characters appeared in TV commercials. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see a real life Big Bird costume or Animal, the crazy drummer Muppet, but overall the exhibit exceeded my expectations.

Check and see if and when the tour stops in a town near you. It’s a quick exhibition, takes a little over an hour. If you go, I’d download the podcast audio tour first. It’s free and it definitely enhances the experience.

_j

Tags: Exhibit, Henson, Muppets, Seasame Steet, Smithsonian

This entry was posted on Friday, September 12th, 2008 at 8:44 pm and is filed under Art, Museum. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.