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Collective Creativity: Emotions at Mac

Collective Creativity: From Exhibit to Emotions at Mac

By Em Buchanan, Writing and Academic Support Coordinator & Linda Seebauer Hansen, Communications and Engagement Specialist

The DeWitt Wallace Library at Macalester has a serendipitous effect, bringing students, staff, and faculty together. The space is a hub of partners all with unique specialties, from providing resources to engaging students with technology and hands-on opportunities. 

From March to May 2026, Emotional Concepts, an interactive element of the exhibit, Expressing, Framing, Resisting, and Containing the Ephemeral, asked the community directly: “What emotion would you most like to communicate, or contain?” Day or night, students could represent an emotion of their choice with the air-dried clay generously provided by the Idea Lab. Some wrote their emotion with pen on the wood-cut laser circles generated by the Digital Resource Center; some did not. None featured explicit authorship. The resulting seventeen sculptures became part of the exhibit.

“The exhibit wall is adjacent to the Idea Lab, which makes working together a light lift. Seeing the meaningful result and the student responses shows how an invitation to action makes an impact,” says Ginny Moran, Research Librarian and Instruction, Visual Arts & Humanities, and Special Collections, and the staff person who initiated the exhibit. 

Brooke Schmolke, Manager, Digital Resource Center & Academic Technologist for Media and Cultural Studies expressed how, “Each department, through a small gesture related to their expertise, made this project a success. Collaborating made a big difference, and students participated in their own way.”

Emotional Concepts first developed as a trauma-informed research project in 2020. In her work with multilingual speakers, Dr. Em Buchanan sought to expand speakers’ experiences with liminal spaces in a world filled with language choices. The process of externalizing emotional concepts through clay encouraged multilingual participants to actively take time to reflect upon their emotions without having to first choose a language to do so. Once externalized, the tangible emotional concepts could be moved, alluded to through gesture, and referenced in a variety of languages.

The second iteration of Emotional Concepts was a Macalester co-creation. Briana Riley, the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Idea Lab Coordinator is no stranger to collaboration. She shares, “The Idea Lab is a space for everyone on campus. Working with our Library partners feels natural and a great use of resources. I am always amazed how students bring their curiosity and creativity to our collaborative workspace.” 

Emotional Concepts sought to provide the Macalester community with the time and space for reflection. Over the course of several weeks, the number of sculptures grew. Some spoke directly to the pressure of academic life, such as Finals, others portrayed emotional states ranging from Inner Peace to The Scream. Some were named in English and another language, some remained unnamed. 

While the exhibit has ended, the sculptures are still on display—in Em Buchanan’s office on the third floor of the DeWitt Wallace Library. In her view, there could hardly be a better place to highlight the creative force of emotions. “We engage with thoughts, words, and stories at the Writing Center on the third floor,” she smiles. “Aren’t all of these rooted in emotion?” After a pause, she addresses those community members who might want to see the works in person and possibly contribute to the display: “Please stop by. Emotions are always best shared.” And, the Idea Lab and DRC will continue to supply the clay and cut wood pieces.

Names of Emotions: (seven unnamed):

  • Over the moon
  • Loneliness
  • Fawking Pissed
  • The Scream
  • Croissanty
  • Finals
  • Self-destruction
  • Hail Mary
  • Hirap at Gulo (hardship and chaos)
  • Inner Peace

The growing display continued to speak with the other artwork created by Macalester artists and staff, Amelia Foster, Ginny Moran, and Linda Seebauer Hansen, drawing the viewer’s attention (and their hands) to the power of language and print and all that these media can conceal or amplify.