Bonnie Erickson (born September 20, 1941) is an American designer of puppets, costumes, toys, and graphics, best known for her work with Jim Henson and The Muppets, where her most notable creations include Miss Piggy, Statler and Waldorf, and as a partner in Harrison/Erickson, the Major League Baseball mascot the Phillie Phanatic.
Biography
Jim Henson Company and The Muppets
Erickson began her career with a background in theater and art, having studied at the University of Minnesota and the Art Students League of New York. After working in legitimate theater as assistant to costume designer Patricia Quinn Stewart, she was hired by
Jim Henson in 1970 to provide costumes for the Muppet characters in
The Frog Prince. She continued with the company, specializing in puppets made from carved foam like
Miss Piggy and Statler and Waldorf.
Erickson served as Head of the Muppet Workshop for Jim Henson Associates, and set up the original London workshop for The Muppet Show in 1976.
In 1983, Erickson served as Design Consultant and Workshop Director for the Jim Henson series Fraggle Rock.
In 1986, Erickson returned to The Jim Henson Company as Vice President of Creative Projects in which she worked on productions such as The Tale of the Bunny Picnic and The Christmas Toy.
Erickson served as a Creative Director for the product division of The Jim Henson Company and Sesame Workshop from 1987 to 2000. Among the many products she art directed was the popular children's toy Tickle Me Elmo.
Harrison/Erickson, Inc.
In 1977, she and husband Wayde Harrison established Harrison/Erickson, Inc., a design studio and marketing resource for national sports teams, television production and the advertising and toy industries, with Jim Henson Associates becoming one of their first clients.
Erickson designed many professional sports mascots, including the Phillie Phanatic and Youppi!, now in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Harrison and Erickson are trustees of The Strong Museum of Play.
In addition to domestic commercials, Harrison, Erickson, Inc. produced designs and provided production casting and performance for international clients in France, Germany, Mexico, Switzerland, and Japan. A series of Budweiser Taste Bud ads were created by Erickson exclusively for Saturday Night Live. She created characters for both Burger King and McDonald’s and created the first talking Happy Meal.
The Jim Henson Legacy
In 1994, Erickson became a trustee of the Jim Henson Legacy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and perpetuating Jim Henson's contributions to the worlds of puppetry, television, motion pictures, special effects and media technology. From 2007 to 2010, she served as president, and then executive director until 2014. During her tenure, she oversaw the Henson Family donation of objects from Henson productions to the Smithsonian Institution, Center for Puppetry Arts, Museum of the Moving Image, The Strong National Museum of Play, and Museum of Pop Culture.
Erickson was also instrumental in the installation of a statue of Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog at the University of Maryland. The caricature Muppet of Jim Henson she created inspired the Jim Henson Legacy commemorative action figure by Palisades Toys.[
]
Live theater
Erickson's work has been featured in The Warrior Ant, a multimedia production for The Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York in 1988, and in the nationwide
Bette Midler The Divine Miss Millennium Tour in 1999.
In 2012, Erickson oversaw "Jim Henson's Musical World," a two-night concert at Carnegie Hall featuring the New York Pops and characters from The Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock.[
]
Erickson's notable credits
The Muppets
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| Year | Character(s) | Production | Designer | Builder |
| Yes |
| Yes |
| Yes |
| No |
| Yes |
| Yes |
| Yes |
| Yes |
| Yes |
| No |
| No |
| Yes |
| Yes (co-built with Jim Henson) |
| Yes |
| Yes |
| Yes |
| Yes |
Mascots
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Mascot | Team/company | Years active | col style= width: 150pt; >Image |
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Advertising clients
Toy and product manufacturer clients
External links
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The New York Times "Where Sid and All His Friends Live" by Alex Ward, June 1979
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The New York Times "NEW YORKERS & CO.; Mascots R Them" by Erin St. John Kelly, February 1998
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Smithsonian Magazine "The Woman Behind Miss Piggy" by Anika Gupta, October 2008
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The Strong Museum of Play, " 'It's Time to Light the Lights' - Spotlight on Bonnie Erickson" by Julia Novakovic, March 9, 2018
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The Atlantic, " The Phillie Phantatic's Biggest Phan" by Elaine Godfrey, November 2, 2022
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Gothamist "A look inside Miss Piggy’s creator's art-filled Brooklyn duplex" by Ryan Kailath, Nov 25, 2023
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The Cut " Meet the Woman Behind Miss Piggy and the Phillie Phanatic" by Nell McShane Wulfhart, June 13, 2024
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The Jim Henson Legacy
