Nursing a fresh-brewed cup of coffee, one can sit down in the lower gallery of the Block Museum of Art, furnished with soft, burnt orange couches, and enjoy one piece of art at a time. 

The Block is piloting “The Living Room,” a new drop-in space that opened Sept. 8, this fall and winter.

Erin Northington, associate director of campus and community education and engagement at the Block Museum, said the new space highlights one work at a time from the Block’s permanent collection in a less formal setting.

“It’s a space that we hope will encourage close looking and deeper reflection and certainly to spark conversation,” Northington said. 

With roughly 6,000 works in the permanent collection, Northington said the team at Block had to choose just six works to display over the course of the two quarters. 

They prioritized choosing works that utilize a variety of backgrounds and mediums, but that are also fairly new to the collection and have never been exhibited before, she said. 

“We really wanted to have works from the collection that invited a different sense of openness, lots of possible interpretations (and) a lot of different directions that people could take their thinking and ask many sorts of questions,” Northington said.

From Sept. 8 to Oct. 5, the space featured a sculpture piece from South African artist Igshaan Adams.

As of Oct. 8, Ken Fandell’s “The Sky Above My Home” is on display in the space. 

The pieces are accompanied by prompts written by Block Museum Student Associates, inviting visitors to reflect on the piece using cards that are then posted on the boards that line the walls.

Weinberg senior Ethan Bledsoe, programs and tours coordinator at the Block, did looking exercises and activities with many of the other Block Associates to deeply analyze and consider the piece and craft the prompts.

Bledsoe said the student associates’ main goal was to make it so everyone would have a good experience in the space without a tour guide or specific labels.

Art museums can often feel like formal or intimidating spaces with rules on the distances you have to stand or how to interpret pieces, Bledsoe said. “The Living Room” seeks to welcome anyone to the space. 

“I think that this space is so important, especially at a university, because it really just opens dialogue,” Bledsoe said. “It’s like an entry point for the museum. And I think that’s what is so important about the living room, is it could be a really good first impression.”

Isabella Ko, engagement coordinator and educator at Block Museum, said there are no wall labels, QR codes or framed pieces on display. There are no security guards in the space, either, because they want the room to foster comfort.

In contrast to the rest of the Block’s galleries, which require you to leave your things in cubbies downstairs, you can walk into “The Living Room” exactly as you are. 

“Not only can you be with a work of art, but you can also come and study and just decompress,” Ko said.

Within the first two days, Northington said, 131 people visited “The Living Room.”

After just one month, the response boards are overflowing, and the number of prompt cards available have dwindled. Northington said the Block staff is very happy with the response from students and community members so far.

“It’s really incredible to see how people have been responding to the work on view and what’s been coming up for them,” Northington said. “It’s just been a joy to see folks getting to know the collection in this way, and then also really a joy to just see folks having meetings in the space and doing homework and taking a break.” 

There is free coffee and tea on Wednesdays from 3 to 5 p.m. at the entrance of the Block Museum, which can be taken into “The Living Room” (with a closed lid, of course). 

The Student Associates are holding an “Art Talks!” tour on Oct. 19 from 2 to 3 p.m. to analyze the current work in the “The Living Room,” “The Sky Above My Home.”