Center for Puppetry Arts taking down Henson exhibits this summer

[FrackleFan2012]

I went to the CPA today. Some puppets have been taken down and other puppets have been added. Here's what I can remember:

The Southern Colonel has been swapped out for T. R. Rooster.
Sir Didymus has been swapped out for some dolls from Sarah's room. There's a teddy bear, two clocks, a Firey, and Ludo.
Kermit has been moved to the Henson room, and Cookie Monster is in his place.
In the Henson room, Jim, The Swedish Chef, Rowlf, Ernie, and the La Choy Dragon have been taken down. King Goshposh and Sherlock Hemlock have been added. (I have no idea what Hemlock is doing in there, as Nelson performed him, not Jim.)

I spoke with some of the staff. They still have a new wing planned to be a permanent home for Henson-related puppets. They hope to have it open by the end of 2014. However, I'm not getting too excited, as we've been hearing about this for years. It was supposed to be open by now, and ain't nothing happened yet.

Regarding the removal of the Henson displays this summer, the staff didn't talk a whole lot about that, but the puppets are on display by courtesy of the Hensons, and I got the feeling that the CPA simply can't have the exhibits up forever.

I brought Janken with me, and he got to see a bit of his heritage. The staff liked him too.

Wow! Amazing memory, even T.R Rooster!! That's awesome. The last time T.R appeared was in The Muppets: A Celebration of Thirty Years. I'm glad that you came into this exhibit.

 

[muppetlover123]

i hope the new wing has ever muppet ever made..... just saying

 

[mupcollector1]

Well it would be kind of difficult if it was every Muppet ever made, I think it would be most of The Muppets that survived. Since foam does disintegrate, sadly some of the original puppets didn't survive and some did in storage. Plus also The Museum of The Moving Image is suppose to get another great share of The Muppets, Props, original sketches. But I have a feeling that Atlanta has the biggest collection of them all. Since it is indeed taking a long time, I still got my faith with it. Sometimes the things in the life that take a long time would become bigger and better then what we all were expecting. My prediction or perhaps it's something I've read, I don't remember...would be a walk through room almost like one of those walk through aquariums with a bunch of The Muppets on display. I'd love to go see it when it opens up, it's a great opertunaty to be able to get probably the closest to the actual Muppets used on The Muppet Show, Classic Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, etc. Though mentioning on how foam disintegrates, I wonder if any of the original Gonzos survived since for many years his nose and mouth were made of un-fabric covered foam (Until Puppet Heap took over the Muppet Building, I think they use some sort of silky material, kind of like the Gonzo photo puppet replica).

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I spoke with some of the staff. They still have a new wing planned to be a permanent home for Henson-related puppets. They hope to have it open by the end of 2014. However, I'm not getting too excited, as we've been hearing about this for years. It was supposed to be open by now, and ain't nothing happened yet.

I have absolutely zero inside knowledge about this, but I would be patient. Millions of dollars have to be raised to finance the new wing and I'm sure it's a huge undertaking in the midst of a still-recovering economy.

It's good to know they are just rotating puppets. Incidentally, that is very common with museums exhibiting puppets. Not only does it help to keep the museum fresh and attract repeat visitors, but too much exposure to light and other environmental factors seriously degrades a lot of older puppets. Other museums with extensive puppet collections like the V&A Museum in London and the Detroit Institute of the Arts rotate the puppets have on display on a regular basis for those reasons.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

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