Michael K. Frith can’t remember when he started drawing. But he always knew that it was something he wanted to pursue. He had his first artwork published at the age of 11—a poster for a theatre production at the Bermudiana Hotel, in which his brother was performing—and at 14 he told the Royal Gazette that he planned to become a professional cartoonist. Seven decades later, the Bermuda National Gallery is hosting a retrospective of his career, The Art of Michael K. Frith: From Pencil to Puppet. He and his wife, Kathryn Mullen, have opened up their private collection for the first time for the sprawling exhibition, which takes over three floors of the gallery. There are more than 350 items on display, including everything from that early interview and a self-portrait he did the same year to original artworks created in collaboration with some of the greatest creative minds of the twentieth century—from Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr Seuss) to Jim Henson.
Frith has been nominated for, and won, numerous Emmys, two George Foster Peabody Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bermuda Arts Council. His wider achievements span several pages. An artist, illustrator, editor, art director and producer, he is above all a creative through and through. Ideas pour out of him and onto the page. He grew up in Warwick and to this day splits his time between Manhattan and the family homestead in Salt Kettle. Whilst Bermuda didn’t provide an art education in the traditional sense, it imbued in him a sense of wonder and magic which remains at the heart of his work. “One some level, Bermuda influences everything,” he says. “Probably in ways I’ll never know, it shaped the way I either see the world—or, perhaps, would like to.”
In the post-war years, when Frith was growing up, Bermuda, he says, was “very different and, in little pockets, still the same.” He explains: “So much of it then was completely unspoiled. I have to believe that having the extraordinary natural world that we had around us made an impression on me.” Like most Bermudians, Frith wasn’t aware of how unique his childhood was. “When you’re a kid, where you are is where you are and who you are is who you are. And what your surroundings are, what you just take to be natural. It’s as if you almost have to step away from it to have some sense of what it’s all about.”
He stepped away as a teen to attend Deerfield, and later Harvard, where he was president of the Harvard Lampoon. Upon graduating in 1963 he joined Random House, where he soon found himself working as editor and illustrator for Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr Seuss) on the celebrated Beginner Books series. It was at the publishing house that Frith first met Jim Henson, who, at the time, was working on an experimental children’s television series called Sesame Street. Frith pitched, and launched, a series of Sesame Street books and the two became close collaborators. For several years Frith freelanced for Henson on the side, designing several Muppet characters whilst still at Random House. Henson eventually convinced him to join the company full-time as head of art and design, which he did in 1975. He went on to spend two decades at the company, rising to director of creative services and executive vice president, in which capacity he effectively served as Henson’s right hand.
Frith’s Bermudian roots would stand him in good stead. One of the first projects Henson tasked him with was the design of characters for a new series he was working on, The Muppet Show. “Jim came to me and said ‘I’d love it if you could design some characters for this. I’d like to do a bunch of pigs, could you do some pigs?’ I’m Bermudian! I know pigs. Pigs are my ancestors!” he laughs. He drew a host of pigs, including a rather attractive one with long blond hair who would go on to become perhaps the most famous pig of all. These first sketches, and many more of Miss Piggy, are displayed in the exhibition.
“My drawings are, largely, designs done to give my brilliant collaborators something to work from, a first step in the invention of characters that grow from a doodle on a napkin to the final creation that comes to life in—and on—the hands of our equally brilliant performers,” explains Frith. “And they do often begin on napkins, or an old yellow pad, a piece of tracing paper. LOTS on tracing paper (it’s fast and easy).” The exhibition explores the journey from ideation to creation, walking visitors through from the first physical manifestation of an idea, captured quickly on a piece of paper, to early drawings, concept sketches, and ultimately, the finished product—five original puppets which performed on The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock, on loan from the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.
As Frith’s most personal and most celebrated project, Fraggle Rock takes centre stage. On display are 12 original concept sketches for the award-winning TV series, which was largely inspired by his childhood in Bermuda. The setting for the show is based on Bermuda’s Crystal Caves and its discovery by two young boys. “The thing that got me about the story is the idea that these kids were suddenly in a place where no human being had ever been before, and with no way of knowing where it might lead,” says Frith. “It was like a parallel to our imaginations, a place with limitless possibilities that might take us anywhere.” The same could be said of his own innate creativity.
“I think one of the key things that attracted me to this world of puppetry is that it embraces literally every art form: design, build, costuming, set design and execution, painting, writing, music, performing, lighting, filming, technology, production on all levels,” he explains. It is a path down which Frith continued after leaving Henson. In 1996 he cofounded Sirius Thinking, a production company most known for Between the Lions. The children’s television series, which aired on PBS, centred on a family of lions who live in an enchanted library, and celebrated a love of reading. It ran for 10 years and won 10 Emmy awards. Frith’s original drawings for this, including the elaborate cross section design for the library in which the show is set, are on display. So, too, are a host of puppets created for No Strings Productions, a nonprofit which he and Kathryn Mullen set up just over two decades ago in response to the horrors of the war in Afghanistan. The organisation produces films featuring puppets for at-risk audiences in the developing world, on subjects such as land-mine safety, sanitation and HIV/AIDS.
Of what it means that this celebration is being held in Bermuda, Frith says “For me, it is so very touching and meaningful that this is happening here, in my homeland, where those dreams began.” He adds, “In pulling it together, I’ve found myself looking back over a lifetime of pushing a pencil around and how that’s given me the great privilege of working with so many extraordinarily talented people to bring so many characters—and sometimes whole worlds—to life. And always in the service of messages of positivity, learning and hope. If this exhibit inspires anyone, particularly among the young, to explore their dreams, to find the great joy in creative collaboration, and to find a way to put something out there that sends a message of hope, it will have done its job.”
The Art of Michael K. Frith: From Pencil to Puppet is on display at the Bermuda National Gallery through to May 2026. Exhibition curated by Eve Godet Thomas. Sponsored by Masters Limited. Admission is free and made possible by the Christian Humann Foundation.
