Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts Celebrates Stop-Motion Magic in Oregon

The 2025 Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts is pulling back the curtain on the creatively and technically challenging world of stop-motion animation in Animation: Script to Screen — a series of fascinating live lectures by international masters of the artform. The event, which also features a traditional 2D animation master class from two-time Oscar nominee Bill Plympton and a tech walk-thru from LAIKA, will unfold June 20-22, presented in the Headlee Theater at Lakewood Center in the Northwest Oregon city.

Reservations for free seats (limited seating) are open now. Visit lakewood-center.org/festival-of-the-arts for more information.

The schedule includes:

Friday, June 20, 11 a.m. — In his talk “Monsters, Mayhem, and Mistakes: a Career in Hollywood Animation,” Tippett animator Webster Colcord introduces rarely (or never) seen clips from his career starting with Will Vinton Studios in the ’80s to Tippett Studio today. Some of the projects he has participated in include The California Raisins, James and the Giant Peach, The Matrix, Deadpool, Ted, Disney’s Skeleton Crew and more.

Friday, June 20, 1 p.m. — Aardman junior animator Hannah Brooks will be providing a live lecture from the U.K., sharing how she animates Gromit and Morph. In her eight years of clay animation, Brooks has worked on films including Early Man, Shaun the Sheep and The Epic Adventures of Morph. Ever watch a Wallace & Gromit movie and wondered how do they do that? Come check it out — no flight to England or passport required.

Friday, June 20, 3:30 p.m. — Are you a Simpsons fan? Check out indie animation legend Bill Plympton’s couch gags, and hear about his “Guard Dog” as he is hosting a masters class on 2D animation. Recommended for future animators, get personal tips and tricks. One bonus: every attendee gets a free sketch.

Saturday, June 21, 11 a.m. — As a visual effects artist, LAIKA’s VFX compositing supervisor Michael Córdova has created images on films from Star Wars to Star Trek, Iron Man to Avatar. Today, Córdova brings 27 years of VFX experience to LAIKA, a Hillsboro, Oregon-based animation studio, as compositing supervisor. Prior to joining LAIKA in 2011, he worked for 12 years at Industrial Light & Magic. His presentation, “LAIKA: Building Worlds with Puppets and Pixels,” will walk through the creative and technical evolution of storytelling at LAIKA, from Coraline to their upcoming sixth feature, Wildwood.

Saturday, June 21,  1 p.m. — Lead animator Anthony Scott weaves from Gumby to Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, as this animation rock star shares nuggets of wisdom gleaned during his 30 year animation journey while working on Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, James and the Giant Peach and the Oscar-winning Pinocchio. Scott is an Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Main Title Design on United States of Tara.

Saturday, June 21, 2:30 p.m. — Animation director Brian Hansen from ShadowMachine has animated on eight Oscar-nominated feature films, and more recently was the animation director on the TV show In the Know for Peacock. Hansen will share his energy and walk attendees through the skills needed in order to be the “off-screen actor” bringing the words and action from the script to life.

Saturday, June 21, 4 p.m. — ShadowMachine‘s Melanie Coombs, producer of award-winning film and television projects including Oscar winner Harvie Krumpet, Annecy Cristal winner Mary and Max and co-producer on Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, will be sharing her wisdom on the intersection of technology and stop motion on the studio’s Peacock series In the Know.