Updated 4 p.m. Jan. 14

A certain green frog named Kermit might be one of the most widely known puppets in the world, but the legacy of the work of Jim Henson, the puppeteer behind Kermit, goes beyond the life and adventures of that famous frog.

“Kermit is a Mississippian,” Cheryl Henson, Jim Henson’s daughter, said, noting Kermit’s swamp origins. “It’s so important to our family that this exhibit be in Mississippi.”

Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience President and CEO Mark Tullos, introducing Cheryl Henson before her puppetry presentation Saturday morning in Meridian, said that her work fit into the greater purpose of The Max.

“An important part of why we exist is to have people like Cheryl come and share their knowledge,” Tullos said. “I can’t help but think that if Jim hadn’t been taken from us so early in life, he would have filled this entire space… because he would have continued creating these wonderful, magical experiences.”

Cheryl Henson’s presentation covered many of her father’s most famous works – The Muppets, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock and more – but grounded his artistry in puppetry as a universal art form.

She pointed to the many forms of puppetry throughout the world: In Indonesia, puppeteers created puppet shows that last from sun-up to sun-down; Chinese puppeteers had thousands of years of history to reflect upon; or marionettes performing outside of churches throughout Europe.

“The message I want to get out with this presentation is that there is a whole world of puppetry,” she said. “The Muppets might be the best known, but there are so many others.”

When it came specifically to the work her parents did on Sesame Street, Henson said that having four children in five years helped.

“I always like to say that my dad and mom knew the audience,” she said. “They knew them intimately because they had four of them.”

Cheryl Henson said that while her father pioneered many new techniques, he also wanted to tie American puppet theater into the colorful world history of puppetry, documenting and highlighting international puppeteers, including artists such as Sergei Obrazstor of the Soviet Union, in his work.

Funding and supporting the artistic and technical innovations in puppetry became a cornerstone of the Jim Henson Foundation, which Jim Henson founded in 1982.

“That just shows the flavor and diversity,” Cheryl Henson said, following a short clip of recently funded projects. “There’s so, so much more than The Muppets when it comes to puppetry.”

Today, The Jim Henson Company continues exploring puppetry through animation, such as the public broadcast children’s shows “Sid the Science Kid” and “Dinosaur Train” or by partnering for a prequel to Dark Crystal, “Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance,” coming out on Netflix in 2020, Cheryl Henson said.

Meridian native Bob LaCour recently moved back to Meridian but remembered his youth spent in New York City during the 1980s. While living there, LaCour befriended a costumer for Miss Piggy, who worked adjacent to The Muppets studio.

“His apartment was full of ping pong eyeballs,” LaCour, who attended Cheryl Henson’s presentation, recalled. “And now I get to see some of context from when I was a guest on the set.”

LaCour thought about the introduction by Tullos, who said that if Jim Henson had lived beyond 1990, his work might have filled more than the exhibit space.

“Just to see the breadth and reach that he had,” LaCour said. “Like (Tullos) said, if he was living he could have filled all of Front Street with his work.”

For younger generations, the scope of Jim Henson’s work also left an impact.

“I thought it was amazing,” Connor McDill, 11, said. “My favorite part was Fraggle Rock because when I was at my first school, at (Russell Christian Academy) we would watch that at the end of the school day.”

While McDill hadn’t seen much of Fraggle Rock since those days, the contorted positions of the performers left an impression.

“I learned that they were all inside of it and looking at the camera when they were performing. They had to memorize their lines and then use muscle memory,” McDill said. “They had to be all scrunched up with their arm up and performing.”

For his mother, Amy McDill, it brought back memories.

“I think this is great that The Max and Meridian are a stop for the exhibit,” she said. “We used to watch Sesame Street and all of the movies. We even got to see the book that we used to read when we were young.”

‘There’s a lot of things being done’

Saturday afternoon, at a panel discussion on Jim Henson’s legacy at the MSU-Riley Center, Bonnie Erickson, the creator of Miss Piggy, and Cheryl Henson both dove into the iconic Muppet characters.

Erickson, whose started in costuming before transitioning into puppetry with Jim Henson, said initially, “I was so excited that I wouldn’t have to worry about inseams or how high a dancer could raise her arms above her head… then I found out puppets have their own problems.”

Originally, Miss Piggy, named after singer Peggy Lee, had been crafted for a side role in a different sketch, but the character was quickly requested for another bit. Upon changing the pig’s costume, Erickson discovered some problems.

“When I took off the uniform she’d worn, I realized she had a seam between her head and her neck – so that’s where the pearls came from,” Erickson said. “I didn’t have time to carve fingers and she’d been wearing hooves (in the first sketch) so she wore gloves.”

As for Kermit, Henson said that the exhibit really demonstrated how long her father had performed with Kermit, starting on one of his early projects, ‘Sam and Friends.’

“Because he identified so much with Kermit, he wanted him to be on Sesame Street,” Henson said, giving the timeline of Kermit’s appearances. “I think that my father’s characters… it’s not until you put them all together that you get a portrait of my father.”

With The Jim Henson Company and The Jim Henson Foundation continuing to create and support puppet arts throughout the United States, as well as adapting to modern technologies, Cheryl Henson said the art form continues to innovate and inspire.

“The art of puppetry is alive and well in this country,” she said, noting that approximately 30 artists receive grants annually from the foundation. “There’s a lot of things being done.”

A look at The Max’s weekend

Tullos, The Max CEO and president reported that hundreds of people had already viewed the exhibit, which had received coverage from across Mississippi to Midland, Texas; Albany, New York; and San Francisco, California.

“We are overwhelmed by the response this weekend,” Tullos said, via email.

According to Tullos, more than 700 people visited during the member’s preview on Friday, 380 people came Saturday and an additional 161 toured during a half-day Sunday opening. The lecture by Cheryl Henson saw 92 attendees while the panel had 74. Additionally, a Kid Chef Demonstration on Sunday had over 100 participants seated.

The museum’s gift store sold more than $1,000 Friday night in Jim Henson-related apparel and gifts, according to the Max.

The exhibit continues at the Max through May 4.