{"id":8385,"date":"2026-05-21T13:40:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/entrepreneurship-and-innovation\/?page_id=8385"},"modified":"2026-05-21T13:46:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:46:42","slug":"collective-creativity-emotions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/entrepreneurship-and-innovation\/collective-creativity-emotions\/","title":{"rendered":"Collective Creativity: Emotions at Mac"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Collective Creativity: From Exhibit to Emotions at Mac<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
By Em Buchanan, Writing and Academic Support Coordinator & Linda Seebauer Hansen, Communications and Engagement Specialist<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

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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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From March to May 2026, Emotional Concepts<\/em>, an interactive element of the exhibit, Expressing, Framing, Resisting, and Containing the Ephemeral, <\/em>asked the community directly: \u201cWhat emotion would you most like to communicate, or contain?\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d says Ginny Moran, Research Librarian and Instruction, Visual Arts & Humanities, and Special Collections, and the staff person who initiated the exhibit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooke Schmolke, Manager, Digital Resource Center & Academic Technologist for Media and Cultural Studies expressed how, \u201cEach 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emotional Concepts <\/em>first developed as a trauma-informed research project in 2020. In her work with multilingual speakers, Dr. Em Buchanan sought to expand speakers\u2019 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second iteration of Emotional Concepts<\/em> was a Macalester co-creation. Briana Riley, the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Idea Lab Coordinator is no stranger to collaboration. She shares, \u201cThe 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.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emotional Concepts<\/em> 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<\/em>, others portrayed emotional states ranging from Inner Peace<\/em> to The Scream<\/em>. Some were named in English and another language, some remained unnamed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the exhibit has ended, the sculptures are still on display\u2014in Em Buchanan\u2019s 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. \u201cWe engage with thoughts, words, and stories at the Writing Center on the third floor,\u201d she smiles. \u201cAren\u2019t all of these rooted in emotion?\u201d After a pause, she addresses those community members who might want to see the works in person and possibly contribute to the display: \u201cPlease stop by. Emotions are always best shared.\u201d And, the Idea Lab and DRC will continue to supply the clay and cut wood pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Names of Emotions: (seven unnamed): <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Over the moon<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Loneliness<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Fawking Pissed<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Scream<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Croissanty<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Finals<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Self-destruction<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Hail Mary<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Hirap at Gulo (hardship and chaos)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Inner Peace<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    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\u2019s attention (and their hands) to the power of language and print and all that these media can conceal or amplify.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    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 […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":893,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8385","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/entrepreneurship-and-innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/entrepreneurship-and-innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/entrepreneurship-and-innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/entrepreneurship-and-innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/893"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/entrepreneurship-and-innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8385"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/entrepreneurship-and-innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8413,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/entrepreneurship-and-innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8385\/revisions\/8413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/entrepreneurship-and-innovation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}