By JL SHANNON
Insights into Muppet creator Jim Henson’s life and artistry are on full display at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. The “Jim Henson Imagination Unlimited” exhibition showcases puppets, known as Muppets, from throughout Henson’s career.

Henson is best known for his work on “Sesame Street,” “The Muppet Show” and “Fraggle Rock” television programs, a series of Muppet movies, and the films “The Dark Crystal” and “Labyrinth.”

Harry Sidebotham, exhibit coordinator, said that the exhibit shows how Henson’s career unfolded: “How his childhood influenced his puppetry, and how his puppetry influenced his future business, and how his future business turned into this massive conglomeration of Muppets of Muppets Inc., and what they were truly able to accomplish in technological aspects, as far as puppetry went, and movies for that matter. So it’s the full life story of Jim Henson, full education of his time on Earth.”

Wendell Walker was deputy director of operations, exhibitions, and design at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City, where the exhibit originated when “Jim Henson Imagination Unlimited” began its tour in 2017. Walker said that the Peoria Riverfront Museum is the 11th and final U.S. stop for the exhibit before going international.

“There are Muppets and drawings and sketches and notes, and there are also monitors throughout the exhibition and some projections as well. And the monitors have clips from different scenes that are talked about in the artifacts around it,” said Walker.

Muppet shows

Walker said the section on “The Muppet Show” displays all 120 episodes running simultaneously.

The exhibit also has interactive stations where visitors can experiment with puppet design and puppeteering.

Walker said the exhibit isn’t just for children, “Certainly ‘Sesame Street’ was oriented towards children, but ‘The Muppet Show’ aired in the evenings, so it was really a mixed audience.” He said because Henson started working on television in the 1950s, “we’ve all spent so many decades” watching his work.

The exhibit traces Henson’s evolution as an artist beginning with his cartoon drawing in high school. His fascination with television led to him auditioning for a job as puppeteer on a local television show when he was a senior in high school. Even though he knew little about puppets, Henson studied books on puppetry from his school library and landed the job.

Though puppeteering was initially a means to work on television, Henson came to embrace puppetry as an art form, which could be used for imaginative storytelling.

Henson died in 1990 at the age of 53.

Two visitors to the exhibit, Amy Kesler and Mitch Abney, remember Henson’s work well from their childhoods.

“Our school sent home things to our parents saying there’s this great new show on TV, ‘Sesame Street,’ that will help your kids learn their numbers and their letters and everything,” Kesler said.

Early inspiration

Abney observed that Henson influenced his sense of humor: “Because when you see clips from it now, you realize there’s satire there and parody of newscasts and TV shows that ended up influencing our humor down the road, too. That’s not stuff you pick up on when you’re 6, but looking back, it’s clear.”

Kesler cited Henson as one of her inspirations. “In hindsight, as I went down the path and became an artist and looked back at what affected me or what I liked as a kid, that was it. That was probably the first art that I liked.”

Walker worked with many of Henson’s collaborators for the exhibit. “When you think about the fact that he passed away 34 years ago, if you get together in a group with them, it’s like he’s still there. All his principles, his standards, his view of life and the world so much impacted them.”

Walker said that when Henson worked on a project, “he wasn’t a control freak. He would let people create. He let people explore their talents. And I think that’s very special.”

Jim Henson Imagination Unlimited is on display at the Peoria Riverfront Museum until Jan. 5. For more information, go to Peoria Riverfront Museum website.