Join Solome Bezuneh ‘24 and Karan Gowda ‘22, former Block Museum Student Associates, and Isabella Ko, Engagement Coordinator and Educator, in the Living Room for a discussion of the creative process that resulted in the photograph Perennial Blossom, from the series Parting Gift, by the artist Leondard Suryajaya. All three speakers were photographed for the group portrait. Coffee and tea will be offered beginning at 3:00 pm.
The Living Room is a drop-in space at The Block Museum that invites students and other visitors to gather, reflect, and connect with one artwork in the museum’s collection, rotating each month.
In Fall 2026, The Living Room highlights a multi-year campus partnership with the Northwestern Department of Athletics and Recreation and the student-athletes they support. Each month, an artwork selected by student-athletes, coaches, and staff will be on view, accompanied by reflection prompts inspired by their own experiences of teamwork, leadership, and identity, on and off the field. Together, they invite every visitor to discover how close looking can spark curiosity, reflection, and connection.
Perennial Blossom will be on view in the Living Room from Wednesday, November 18 through Sunday, December 13.
Programs are open to all, on a first-come first-served basis. RSVPs are appreciated, but not required.
About the Speakers:
Solome Bezuneh is a graduate of Northwestern University (BA Communication Studies ‘24) from Chicago, Illinois. She participated in the Block Museum Student Associate Program from 2021-2024. Solome is a creative project coordinator who has worked in a variety of settings including community archives, nonprofit organizations, and product marketing teams. She previously served as Terra Foundation Community Engagement Fellow at the Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago. She is interested in accessibility and the role of creativity in communication development. Solome maintains a personal practice spanning across collage, photography, and drawing.
Karan Gowda received his undergraduate degree in 2022 and his Masters in Public Health in 2023 from Northwestern, while being a Block Museum Student Associate for a year and a half. He is now a 4th year medical student and will be applying to internal medicine residency this year. Besides the Block, his favorite museum is the Art Institute of Chicago.
Isabella Ko aspires to create spaces where people can slow down, get curious, and reflect on the world around them—while in the company of art and others. She wonders about how to center critical pedagogical practices when facilitating art experiences and the role of cultural production within sociopolitical movements. Isabella is the Block Museum’s Engagement Coordinator & Educator and graduated from Northwestern University in 2020 with a major in art history and minors in French and Business Institutions. You might hear her before you see her (talking and laughing loudly with loved ones.)
The Living Room is supported by the Alsdorf Gallery Endowment.
The Block Museum of Art acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.
Image credit: Leonard Suryajaya (Chinese-Indonesian, born 1988), Perennial Blossom, from the series Parting Gift, 2022. Inkjet print. Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, gift of the artist. 2022.7.
Cost: Free and open to the public.
Block Museum of Art
(847) 491-4000
Email