The Center for Puppetry Arts announces new Global Collection gallery

The puppets are getting an upgrade

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Starting in the fall of 2015, visitors will be able to experience this rich history of puppetry in the [clatl.com/atlanta/center-for-puppetry-arts/Location?oid=1297989|Center for Puppetry Arts]’ newly expanded museum and permanent museum exhibition, Worlds of Puppetry.


The Global Collection gallery, which will showcase the exhibition, will be comprised of over 170 puppets and artifacts from five continents. The Center hopes to impress that puppets are not an exclusively Western (or contemporary) practice. Organized by continent, the exhibition will include Japanese Bunraku puppets, Vietnamese water puppets, and Indonesian shadow puppets. Popular Twentieth-century puppeteer Bil Baird will also be represented by one of his marionette dolls.


Although multicultural representation is the center of the exhibition’s mission, the collection will also include some more current crowd favorites such as the stop-motion clay animated duo, Gumby and Pokey, iconic European hand puppets Punch and Judy, and even prototypes for Julie Taymor’s Mufasa mask in the Broadway production of Disney’s The Lion King.


The newly completed museum will also feature the Jim Henson Collection gallery. Slated to open in the fall along with the rest of the museum, the collection will be the nation’s most comprehensive exhibit of Henson’s artifacts.


Now that the groundbreaking stages of development are finished, the Center is almost done with the steel frame and will begin constructing the roof and exterior walls shortly. On May 25, current museum exhibits will close for construction, although performances and workshops will continue as usual. Once reopened, the Center will also introduce an expanded museum store, a new library and archival storage space.