C-Space
C-Space is a space where Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ students can engage with the creative process, connecting with and augmenting their innate creativity. It provides students with resources on how to develop and apply creative thinking and problem-solving skills. A selection of building, prototyping, and art materials supports students' exploration and practice. Last academic year, C-Space had over 1,000 visitors.
Purpose
C-Space exists to cultivate students’ understanding of and engagement with the creative process, developing building blocks of creativity, and augmenting their ability for creative thinking and problem-solving in academics and beyond. Faculty can use C-Space as a teaching and learning resource.
The Creative Process
The creative process includes the stages outlined below and yet it is seldom linear. Rather, we move in and out of the stages, circling through them, finding and iterating possibilities, until we feel we have arrived at something that resonates or somewhere we need to be for now.
|
|
Figuring something out |
Diverging |
Incubating |
Converging |
|
How you might experience this stage |
Getting ideas out Getting started Clarifying what is going on Feeling uncertain or “fuzzy” Finding the question Naming the thing you need clarity on |
Coming up with a lot of ideas Seeing more options Asking for different perspectives Asking: “What more?” “And more still?” Expanding and exploring possibilities (How can I…? In what ways…? It would be great if…?) |
Percolating Stepping away Getting some distance and a break from the options Pausing Nurturing ideas Letting ideas ripen Disrupting thought-patterns |
Weighing your options Try combining some Prototyping and testing them Clarifying how each aligns with your values Choosing the option that resonates most for now |
|
A visual metaphor for the process (“Lost in the woods”) |
I feel lost and I am not sure what I am looking at yet. Can creativity get me out? |
What are all the trees I can find? What do they look like? What could they look like? What more trees could I add? |
Can I see the forest for the trees? What is in the clouds above the forest? |
Which tree will I sit under or climb for now? (Don’t cut the others down; you might want to go back to sit under one of those later.) |
Applying the Creative Process
Students can apply the creative process to their academic work. It can help them work through and respond to a class assignment, choose their major, or clarify their thesis question. Students can also apply the process outside of academics in personal and professional pursuits.
Materials
A selection of materials is available to help students as they engage with the creative process, including K'NEX® construction toys, LEGO®, Momentix® chain reaction toys, wood cubes, beads, buttons, fabrics, yarn, thread, jewelry wire, acrylic paints, watercolors, charcoals, pastels, collage papers and Mod Podge®, gelli printing, and sound-making instruments.
Eligibility and Access
In Fall ’26, C-Space will be available to students who have existing access and students who are invited through a program or course, including the Bridge Scholars Program and the First-Year Program. To learn more, email innovation@coloradocollege.edu.
Location
C-Space is located at 232 E. Cache La Poudre St. in the northwest corner of E. Cache and N. Weber.
