"I've always drawn, since I was big enough to hold a crayon, and as
I drew I was telling stories in my head about the things I was
drawing," explained Chapman. "I learned from drawing that drawings
have stories, and I discovered that telling those stories was my
real passion." Using clips from films, including many of the films
she helped create for Disney Studios, Chapman explained story and
character development, theme, plot, and other elements that fit
together to make a well-told story. Later she assigned students to
work in pairs to interpret and perform a short script as a way to
practice storytelling.
Several faculty members and administrators were also in the
audience, including Anne Moseley, assistant director of the Lincoln
Heritage Museum, who plans to apply Chapman's ideas to her own work.
"We can use her insights about storytelling in the museum to help
us do a better job of telling Lincoln's story, to help us make the
museum and history come alive for other people," said Moseley. "It
was also fun seeing the students in their element, performing the
stories they created from their script. I could really see the
potential for students to perform in the museum. We hope Brenda will
be able to come visit the museum when it opens in April and see what
we've done and how we're telling Lincoln's story."
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Chapman grew up in Beason, attended Lincoln Community High School
and graduated from Lincoln College in 1982. She went on to study
animation at the California Institute of the Arts and has worked for
Disney and Pixar Studios. She is currently working on projects for
DreamWorks Animation.
Chapman received Lincoln College's Outstanding Alumni Achievement
Award in 1997 and was given an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree
by Lincoln College in May 2013.
[Text from file received from
Lincoln College]
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