Bonnie Erickson
{{Short description|American designer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Bonnieerickson.jpg
| image_size =
|name=Bonnie Erickson
|caption=
|birth_date= {{Birth date and age|1941|09|20}}
|birth_place=Anoka, Minnesota
|death_date=
|death_place=
|education=University of Minnesota, Art Students League of New York
|spouse= {{plainlist|
- {{Marriage|Leslie Lewis|1963|1975}}
- {{Marriage|Wayde Harrison|1977}}
}}
|children= Christopher Wisedell Lewis
|occupation= designer of puppets, costumes, toys, and graphics
}}
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.{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Brian Jay|title=Jim Henson: The Biography|date=September 24, 2013|publisher=Ballantine Books|isbn=978-0-345-52611-3|pages=186–187}}{{cite web|last1=Traubman|first1=Eleanor|title=From Muppets to Mascots: The Incredible Journey of Bonnie Erickson|url=http://creativetimes.blogspot.com/2010/02/from-muppets-to-mascots-incredible_24.html|website=Creative Times|date=24 February 2010 |accessdate=7 July 2017}}
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.{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Brian Jay|title=Jim Henson: The Biography|date=September 24, 2013|publisher=Ballantine Books|isbn=978-0-345-52611-3|page=238}}
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 Children's Television Workshop from 1987 to 2000. Among the many products she art directed was the popular children's toy Tickle Me Elmo.{{cite web|last1=Roe|first1=Ryan|title=An Interview with Bonnie Erickson|url=http://www.toughpigs.com/bonnie-erickson/|website=ToughPigs.com|date=17 January 2012 |accessdate=7 July 2017}}{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Brian Jay|title=Jim Henson: The Biography|date=September 24, 2013|publisher=Ballantine Books|isbn=978-0-345-52611-3|pages=208–209}}
=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.{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Brian Jay|title=Jim Henson: The Biography|date=September 24, 2013|publisher=Ballantine Books|isbn=978-0-345-52611-3|page=276}}
Erickson designed many professional sports mascots, including the Phillie Phanatic and Youppi!, now in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.{{cite web|last1=Rubin|first1=Mike|title=Master of Puppets|url=https://victoryjournal.com/stories/master-of-puppets/|website=Victory Journal|date=17 December 2015 }}{{cite journal|last1=Jarvis|first1=Robert M.|title=Hi-Jinks at the Ballpark: Costumed Mascots in the Major Leagues|journal=Cardozo Law Review|date=May 23, 2002|volume=23|issue=5}}
Harrison and Erickson are trustees of The Strong Museum of Play.{{cite web |title=The Strong National Museum of Play Board of Trustees |url=https://www.museumofplay.org/about/board-of-trustees/ |access-date=2 October 2024}}
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.{{cite web|last1=Gupta|first1=Anika|title=The Woman Behind Miss Piggy|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-woman-behind-miss-piggy-11290861/|website=Smithsonian.com|accessdate=7 July 2017}}
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.{{cite web |title=Happily Ever After Hours with Bonnie Erickson |website=www.waltdisney.org |url=https://www.waltdisney.org/education/talks/sold-out-happily-ever-after-hours-muppet-designer-bonnie-erickson |access-date=11 September 2024}}
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 =
| class="wikitable" | ||||
| scope="col" style="width: 100pt;" | Year
| scope="col" style="width: 300pt;" | Character(s) | scope="col" style="width: 300pt;" | Production | scope="col" style="width: 100pt;" | Designer | scope="col" style="width: 100pt;" | Builder | ||||
| 1972 | Caleb Siles, Mean Floyd, Mordecai Sledge, and Lardpork{{cite book|last1=Falk|first1=Karen|title=Imagination Illustrated: The Jim Henson Journal|date=October 26, 2012|publisher=Chronicle Books|isbn=978-1-4521-0582-6|page=82}} | The Muppet Musicians of Bremen | Yes | Yes |
| 1973 | Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and Jerry Nelson caricature puppets{{cite book|last1=Falk|first1=Karen|title=Imagination Illustrated: The Jim Henson Journal|date=October 26, 2012|publisher=Chronicle Books|isbn=978-1-4521-0582-6|page=88}} | The Dick Cavett Show | Yes | Yes |
| 1974 | George the Janitor{{cite book|last1=Finch|first1=Christopher|title=Of Muppets & Men|year=1981|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=0-394-52085-8}} | The Muppets Valentine Show | Yes | Yes |
| 1974 | Mildred Huxtetter | The Muppets Valentine Show | Yes | No |
| 1974 | Miss Piggy | The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence | Yes | Yes |
| 1974 | Statler and Waldorf | The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence | Yes | Yes |
| 1974 | The Muppet Newsman | The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence | Yes | Yes |
| 1974 | Dr. Julius Strangepork (originally “Dr. Nauga”) | The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence | Yes | Yes |
| 1974 | Gene Shallit caricature puppet | The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence | Yes | Yes |
| 1974 | Zoot | The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence | Yes | No |
| 1974 | Animal | The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence | Yes (co-designed with Jim Henson) | No |
| 1974 | Janice | The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence | No | Yes |
| 1974 | The Swedish Chef | The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence | No | Yes (co-built with Jim Henson) |
| 1975 | Vazh from The Land of Gorch | Saturday Night Live | No | Yes |
| 1976 | Fozzie Bear{{cite book|last1=Falk|first1=Karen|title=Imagination Illustrated: The Jim Henson Journal|date=October 26, 2012|publisher=Chronicle Books|isbn=978-1-4521-0582-6|page=98}} | The Muppet Show | No | Yes |
| 1983 | Espinete | Barrio Sésamo | No | Yes |
| 1983 | Kippi Ben Kippod | Rechov Sumsum | No | Yes |
= Mascots =
=Advertising clients=
- American Dairy Association
- AT&T
- Budweiser
- Burger King
- Cadbury
- Flik Flak (Switzerland)
- H-O Oats
- La Pie qui Chante (France)
- Lysol
- McDonald's
- Nutella
- Perwoll (Germany)
- Procter & Gamble
- Sharp Corporation
=Toy and product manufacturer clients=
- Applause, Inc.
- Axlon
- Enesco
- Fisher-Price
- Hasbro
- Knickerbocker Toy Company
- Colorforms for Maurice Sendak
- Mattel
- Kurt S. Adler
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{Muppets}}
- {{IMDb name|0259017}}
- The New York Times [https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/28/archives/where-sid-and-all-his-friends-live-where-sid-floodstone-and-all-his.html "Where Sid and All His Friends Live"] by Alex Ward, June 1979
- The New York Times [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/15/nyregion/new-yorkers-co-mascots-r-them.html "NEW YORKERS & CO.; Mascots R Them"] by Erin St. John Kelly, February 1998
- Smithsonian Magazine [https://web.archive.org/web/20120502020506/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/atm-qa-200810.html "The Woman Behind Miss Piggy"] by Anika Gupta, October 2008
- The Strong Museum of Play, "[https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2020/06/11/10-things-we-learned-from-muppet-designer-bonnie-erickson-during-wdfm-happily-ever-after-hours/ 'It's Time to Light the Lights' - Spotlight on Bonnie Erickson]" by Julia Novakovic, March 9, 2018
- The Atlantic, "[https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/11/philadelphia-phillies-phanatic-baseball-mascot/671961/ The Phillie Phantatic's Biggest Phan]" by Elaine Godfrey, November 2, 2022
- Gothamist [https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/a-look-inside-miss-piggys-creators-art-filled-brooklyn-duplex "A look inside Miss Piggy’s creator's art-filled Brooklyn duplex"] by Ryan Kailath, Nov 25, 2023
- The Cut "[https://www.thecut.com/article/bonnie-erickson-muppets-miss-piggy-phillie-phanatic.html Meet the Woman Behind Miss Piggy and the Phillie Phanatic]" by Nell McShane Wulfhart, June 13, 2024
- [http://www.jimhensonlegacy.org/ The Jim Henson Legacy]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Erickson, Bonnie}}
Category:American fashion designers
Category:American women fashion designers
Category:American women artists
Category:Art Students League of New York alumni
Category:American toy designers
Category:American costume designers