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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.
Bonnie Erickson designed and built the inimitable Miss Piggy in 1974 for an early "Muppets" television special, produced by Jim Henson. Puppets, props and storyboards from Henson's prolific...
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Bonnie Erickson (b. September 20, 1941), aka Bonnie Lewis, was part of the original design team for The Muppet Show. She first joined Jim Henson's team as a costume designer for The Frog Prince, became head of the workshop and continued to work with the Muppets team for many years.
Erickson is credited as the designer and/or builder of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Statler and Waldorf, the Newsman, Janice, Zoot, and the caricatures of Jim Henson, Frank Oz and Jerry Nelson for the Country Trio.
Erickson then moved to become Creative Director of the Product Division of Children's Television Workshop, a position which she held for 13 years.
Erickson now owns her own design and marketing company, Harrison/Erickson, Inc., where she creates characters for television and theater, as well as mascot programs for major league sports teams. Her best known mascots are the Phillie Phanatic and Youppi. Her advertising work includes the development of the first Happy Meal puppets for McDonald's as well as a line of plush animals for Applause.
•The Frog Prince: puppet costumes
•The Muppet Musicians of Bremen: character designer/builder of puppets and body puppets and heads for Caleb Siles, Mean Floyd, Mordecai Sledge, and Lardpork; co-built T.R. (with Don Sahlin)
•The Muppets Valentine Show: designed George the Janitor, Mildred Huxtetter
•The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence: designed The San Francisco Earthquake and other wrestlers, The Electric Mayhem's Zoot, Statler and Waldorf; built Janice, and co-built The Swedish Chef (with Jim Henson)
•Saturday Night Live (The Land of Gortch): built Vazh
•The Muppet Show: character designer; built Fozzie Bear
•Smithsonian Magazine "The Woman Behind Miss Piggy" by Anika Gupta, October 2008
•Creative Times interview, February 24, 2010
•Gothamist "A look inside Miss Piggy’s creator's art-filled Brooklyn duplex" by Ryan Kailath, Nov 25, 2023
•Tough Pigs interview, January 2012
Jun 13, 2024 · It’s time to give Bonnie Erickson — the 82-year-old creator of Miss Piggy, the Phillie Phanatic, and more beloved Muppets and mascots — her due. Her mascots are “fanciful. I think of them all as gentle anarchists.”
Feb 27, 2018 · Miss Piggy creator Bonnie Erickson participates in a March 3 panel honoring the Women of The Muppets at the Center for Puppetry Arts.
Aug 2, 2021 · In celebration of The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited, Senior Curator and Curator of Public Life, Donna Braden, sat down with the legendary Muppet-designer Bonnie Erickson to...
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It took a village to raise the Muppets, and Bonnie was a key member of that village. The Jim Henson Legacy is dedicated to preserving and perpetuating Jim Henson’s contributions to the worlds of puppetry, television and motion pictures.
