22
Jul
Jim Henson Exhibition Puppet Conservation
Conserving Historic Props and Puppets for the NYC Jim Henson Exhibition and Traveling exhibit.
We’re honored to have helped conserve props and puppets with New York’s Museum of the Moving Image for their Jim Henson Exhibition and their traveling exhibit called, “Imagination Unlimited” currently at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, Washington.
Our team of fx and restoration artists were brought on very early in the process, consulting from the very beginning, and eventually conserving approximately 2 dozen pieces at our New York studio. While not all of the pieces we conserved are currently on display, quite a number of them are now in the NY and traveling exhibitions. In the traveling Jim Henson exhibit, you’ll find Jen, Kira, Aughra and a Mystic from The Dark Crystal. In the NY exhibition, you’ll see a Cannonball puppet from Labyrinth along with a Podling puppet, Mystic hands and a full Skeksis puppet from the Dark Crystal.
Our family of artists at Tom Spina Designs put in countless hours performing cautious and sympathetic restoration and conservation. Our team for the Jim Henson Exhibition project included: Tom Spina, Patrick Louie, Melissa Ocampo, Maria Teran, Christine Richter, Steven Richter, Michelle Nyree, Todd Rex and Casey Wong. Together, we all contributed to the delicate work conserving these incredible pieces of history.
We’d like to thank everyone at the Jim Henson Legacy and the Museum of the Moving Image, but especially Barbara Miller, Wendell Walker and Daniel Silva, who worked closely with us on this project and who took great care and caution in setting the appropriate level of restoration for each individual movie prop or puppet. Their passion for these historic items and Jim Henson’s life’s work was at the forefront throughout the process.
Lastly, we’d like to thank Bonnie Erickson, a hero of Tom’s since before he even knew who she was (Bonnie created many of the original Muppet characters we all know and love… a certain pig in particular!). Bonnie championed our little studio from the beginning and was instrumental in bringing us on to help preserve Jim Henson’s legacy!
To see more photos from the opening of the New York exhibit, visit our gallery of photos from the Museum of the Moving Image Jim Henson Exhibition.
Need specialized care, restoration or conservation for your private or museum collection? Email or call today and let’s discuss your project!
When did you last see this beloved Jim Henson film?
