Go behind the scenes with The Jim Henson Company at GOMA!

The Jim Henson Company is world-renowned for its puppet artistry and its creative approach to crafting worlds and creatures of fiction. Whether it be Sesame Street, The Muppets, Fraggle Rock, or cult classics like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth (which is celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year), the Jim Henson Company is a pop culture staple, beloved by generations of families.

Their technical and special-effects mastery has also brought many out-of-this-world creatures to life, courtesy of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. This includes the turtle suits used in the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films, and the transformation of the USS Enterprise’s crew (except for Spock) into adorable puppets in a recent, unforgettable episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. You can ask Supa-Stars Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike) and Kevin Eastman (co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) all about the creative powerhouse at Adelaide and Brisbane Supanova 2026.

An exciting world-first exhibition on the Jim Henson Company is about to open at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), running from tomorrow through Sunday, April 18, 2027. The ‘Make, Believe, Magic: The Worlds of The Jim Henson Company’ exhibition celebrates 70 years of creativity and offers an immense and immersive experience of the Company’s dynamic trajectory from practical puppetry to modern-day animatronics and digital innovations.

Production still: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance 2019/Dir. Louis Leterrier/©Netflix. All Rights Reserved

It takes an interdisciplinary team of craftspeople, fabricators, designers, engineers, and animators to realise the vision of creatives, while also fulfilling the needs of performers. At the heart of every production is a mixture of classic techniques and modern technologies, and a commitment to ensuring creations, no matter the complexity, are grounded in authentic, live performances.

The exhibition will explore the ongoing dedication of the Jim Henson Company to the creature design craft and trailblazing developments in on-screen puppeteering, with hundreds of pieces on display, from practical puppets to animatronic creatures, props, costumes, original drawings and concepts, as well as moving image clips. From Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Farscape, to Fraggle Rock, there’s plenty to check out from the rich history of The Jim Henson Company!

This is an opportunity to learn more about the magic of creature effects and the people behind the craft, and to celebrate their hard work, which has revolutionised the art of puppetry. Supa-Fans learnt a thing or two about this art form from puppeteer Supa-Star alum Mike Quinn, and his time with The Jim Henson Company during his Supanova appearances in 2025.

Want to dive deeper into the worlds of Jim Henson? Look out for the free film screenings at GOMA’S Australian Cinémathèque, as well as a suite of QAGOMA’s renowned public, learning and access programs related to the exhibition.

Discover what it took to create an exhibition of this scale via a livestream with Australian media personality Sofie Formica on Monday, 14 September at 8.00am AEST. She will discuss this with members of the Gallery’s Curatorial and Conservation teams, along with special guests from The Jim Henson Company and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, live from the United States.

Want to watch the live stream? Visit the QAGOMA event page for details and to register your interest. Don’t forget to add the Livestream to your calendar, to ensure you don’t miss the exciting event. Expect the unexpected, as there may be some very special surprise appearances that Jim Henson fans wouldn’t want to miss!

If you’re a lover of pop culture and the puppetry arts, then it’s worth checking out the ‘Make, Believe, Magic: The Worlds of The Jim Henson Company’ exhibition and Brisbane Supanova in November, to get the full pop culture experience.

And the excitement doesn’t end there, Supa-Fans! If you’d like to win a double pass to visit the exhibition, head on over to our competition page to be in with a chance to check this out for yourself in-person!