Sweater Weather

Re encounters.

warning this maybe offensive to those that are not carnivores.

Please allow me a few minutes of your time to share a story with you...


Two weekends ago I went back home (no, not to Puerto Rico.) to my parents house in Spring Hill ( 45 mins south of Nashville.1 hr with traffic). Anyways, the moral of the story is that my mom and dad surprised me with grocery bags full with food! To me that is as close as I’ll ever get to winning the lottery. The contents of these bags were diverse as food goes. To illustrate, chips and salsa, pasta, olive oil, orange juice and ground beef to make hamburgers and last, but not least VEAL.

At first, I was turned off by the thought of it. Not because a baby cow had to stroll down the “walk of shame” into the slaughter house in order for me to consume the chunk of red meat that its body will soon become, but because the first time I ever tried veal, to be honest, it was not the most paramount experience I have ever had with meat. On the other hand, I am not one that is known for quitting.

I decided that I would give veal another try and this time it was me the one who would cook it. I love cooking. It is one of my passions. It relaxes me and I like cooking for other people. I take pride in the food I cook and I do it often so that I can perfect and sharpen my skills. With this confidence in mind I was determined to cook a REALLY good meal and the main dish would be VEAL!

RING! RING! My cell phone rung a few times before I was able to answer this past Sunday night I was watching the movie Cache while I cooked veal. It was a dear fried of mine with whom I had not been able to spend time with due to the busyness of life. This time neither of us had work and we had scheduled to hang out that night.

The voice on the other end says,
“Hey Jean, are you still wanting to hangout tonight?”
I replied,
“ I mean…yea. If you are up for it… I’m down.”

A few minutes later having in mind that my friend had just gotten off from work and most likely had not eaten dinner and would stop at a fast food for it

I phoned and said,
“ Have you had dinner yet?’
The reply was
“No”
I said,
“Great I’m making dinner. Want to join me?”
Casually,the response was,
“Ok.”

To spare you from all the details of the night my friend came over just in time for dinner. It smelled delicious! We sat at the dinner table after spending almost two hours cooking this meal that included white rice, beans ( both a staple in PRican cuisine) and veal. I added to it many different types of spices and seasonings that have been passed down from generations to generations in my native Puerto Rico and had the veal cook on a pan set to low-med fire on the stove and after awhile it was ready to be consumed!

Oh WOW!!! What a succulent meal it was! DELECTABLE, SCRUMPTIOUS! My mouth waters just writing about it! As we bit into the veal a complex mixture of flavors covered our taste buds. Garlic, cilantro, oregano, are just some of the few that I will reVEAL.

Due to this re encounter I had with veal and my openness to retry it once again I feel like I have expanded my horizons a bit as a carnivore. If you don’t like it the first time I encourage you to give it another try…or just let me cook it.
By the end of the night our bellies were full and my friend and revisited memories, laughed and forgot about the busyness that is trying to juggle art school, work, and all that comes with growing up.


Don’t get caught by it.
Ride the wave.


Yours truly,
Jean-Michael Vissepo

Capture The Flag

dude

I just ate satco with my mom and company, food was great, mom and company was great, the conversation was out of control! This world and the things that are involved in it are crazy and make me want to be a mountain man and learn to live off the land. Anyone wish to join me?

- Tyler

Friday

I have today off of work and school and i'm super psyched on that.  Took Pete to the airport this morning at 5 am, then came home and crashed.  I then slept until noon, it was nice.  My mom drove in to Nashville today from Indiana and so I'm going by the bank, bike shop, then meeting up with her for the rest of the day.  It will be fun getting to hang out with her and catch up. 

- Tyler

Nashville Gas Problem

News with Jean-Michael Vissepo

The Following is an update on what is going on Nationally and locally.







Paid by:
Watkins College of Art
Special Thanks to :
the Computer Lab's imac in the Film Dept.

Another day in the life of...

Pillow Fight Pictures

Below : The organizers of the event Battle out.
Below : Pillow Fight organizers. Courtesy of Watkins College of Art









more video coming soon.

Nashvillian Pillow Fight

Footage Courtesy of Jayson Wall

Pillow Fight

Oh Fellow artists, Watkins students and people of the world. Lets get serious! If you are invited to a Facebook event and over 2,000 people have confirmed. Chances are it will be an unforgettable one. That is why if on Saturday evening you decided to stay home and watch My Little Pony with your younger sister, cuddle with your boy/girlfriend, and or be any where else other than Centennial Park in Nashville, Tennessee you are fool, because the turn out was great! Over 600 people showed up pillows in hand ready to fight in the most optimistic way possible.

Thanks, to your local Optimist Manifesto club at Watkins College of Art hundreds congregated in what would go down in history as the largest Alcohol/drug free gathering/pillow fight in Nashville. It could have not been a better evening. The moon was full, a cool breeze danced around the park and the good vibes where blinking red inside of everybody.

Of course there is ALWAYS “that guy.” The guy that accidentally hits another on the nose and the guy that makes a scene for the guy that was injured. Despite all this the optimistic spirits soared high over the Nashville skyline. After much bashing of people’s heads with pillows the energy levels started to die down. To our surprise the h2o patrol showed up with tons of water bottles to reenergize us. So many of them that they were still giving them out long after the event was over. Thank you h2o patrol.

How can you make a memorable night an unforgettable night? How can you make it one of those nights that you look back on and nostalgia quickly raises to the surface and smiles light up the room? Easy. Buy the pillows that have feathers in them and a knife. Then bring them to a pillow fight and when everybody is fighting tear the pillow open and allow the feathers to fly or rather “glide with style” as everyone fights. That is what a gentleman did during the fight giving us many beautiful picture opportunities.

The event culminated with everybody picking up cotton and feathers from the ground along with anything else that was left behind. A little side note, for the next pillow fight we will have a loud speaker and a lost and found box. Many lost valuables during the fight.

This was a remarkable event that was conceived in the minds of Watkins students. Keep up the good work and show Nashville how we really do it here at www.watkins.edu. I’m proud and honored to know you.


Ride the Wave.
Sincerely,
Jean-Michael Vissepo


P.S.
Pictures and video from the pillow fight coming soon. I was experiencing some troubleshooting.

Heima

The last two days have been a lot of for me and have involved very little sleep.  It started off Friday morning at 5:00 a.m. with getting up and going to work.  I worked until noon and got off and went home to sleep for the day knowing that the evening would be long and the morning would come early.  I think I slept 4 hours before waking up.

Once awake I headed to the Exit/IN for the Infinity Cat Records night.  This was part of Next Big Nashville which started Wednesday night and ran through Saturday night.  Showcasing the artists and bands the best represent Nashville's newest and most popular music.  The show started off with Reed and Wright, a noise band  made up of two dudes from here in town.  Followed by the Royal Bangs(rock'n'roll), The Mattoids(bizzare party band), and Cake Bake Betty(cutesy piano music...kinda).  Then came the headliners, Meemaw and Jeff the brotherhood.  The show was good up until this point, but once meemaw started playing, the place filled up with people and energy.  I had only seen them in basements and at house shows previous to this night, and it was definitely just as fun at a full size venue as it was in someone's living room.  The show ended with Jeff the Brotherhood who are two brothers that play guitar and drums and just play straight forward rock'n'roll that is super fun and super entertaining.  There were plenty of inflatable toys floating around, cheese sandwiches being thrown, and to top it all off, a dance party on stage at the end of their set that was soon broken up by security.  Overall it was a fun show.  After the show we just hung out for awhile before calling it a night. I ended up getting home around 3ish and slept for 2 hours before getting up to go to work.  

Worked until noon, cleaned my room, fixed my bike tire, and took off on a trek across town.  Today was hot, I'm not sure of the exact temperature, but it went from a nice bike ride to a miserable bike ride within the first 5 minutes.  Regardless rode across town to the Smoothie King where I met up with April, my girlfriend, and headed to her house to eat dinner with her mom.  We rode our bikes from her house back to Centennial Park to take part in the Pillow Fight.  There will be pictures and video up on that shortly, but for now, just know that if you weren't there, you might have missed out on the most entertaining thing that's ever happened in Nashville.  So many excited people, so many feathers flying everywhere, and such a beautiful night to go along with it. After that we just rode bikes around town some more and now it's 12:30 at night and I'm watching the Sigur Ros dvd "Heima" and if you haven't heard this band before, you should check it out, if you have you should check it out.  Tomorrow is catch up day.  Catch up on sleep, catch up on cleaning, and catch up on some last minute homework. 

Oh yeah... and I'm going to see Disney on Ice, that should be pretty awesome too.

- Tyler

Turner Hall Dedication

Student Government Cookout

It's coming, and you know you're going to tune back real soon...

Our first video blog entry is in the process of being uploaded onto YouTube...needless to say, it's taking a while.

But check back later today! You won't be let down.

-Julian R. Vaca

We're now in our third week of school and I have to admit I'm having a hard time getting started.  I'm really enjoying my studio classes and I'm excited about upcoming projects, reading however, has me in a fit.  Eighty percent of the time that I sit down to catch up on reading I wake up with the book in my lap and a knot in my neck.  I'm hoping to get over that in the upcoming weeks.

I spent this last weekend at work and catching up on homework.  Friday I had off and spent the majority of the day lounging around, reading (or trying too at least), and working on a piece for Drawing 2.  Saturday came bright and early for me, having to be at work at 5:30 a.m. I woke up around 4:45, took a shower, then headed to work.  Worked until noon and then loaded my bike and headed to the dorms where I had to replace my pedals and change my back tire.  I headed to the art crawl for about 30 min. then back to the dorms to spend the evening with friends.  Sunday woke up and rode my newly repaired bike to work, got off later that afternoon and had yet another flat back tire.  I'm not really sure how it happens but thats 2 for 2 and it's a real bummer to have to keep replacing it.  Once home I cleaned up, and my girlfriend and I went to SATCO for some dinner. After the usual chicken fajitas and sweet tea, we headed back towards downtown to find a place called 3rd and Lindsley to see Dr. Dog and Delta Spirit.  After some wrong turns and some kinda scary driving by yours truly, we found the place only for the show to be sold out.  We decided to admit our defeat and went back to the house and finished up some homework and watched the O.C.  

If anyone knows of a good show coming through town let me know,

Thanks,

Tyler

 

Gallery Crawl.

Last night was that time of the month again…It happens the first Saturday of each month. Thousands of avid art lovers from all different walks of life gather in Nashville to see and be seen, and also to look at the work of local as well as international visual artist.

 With the help of Calvin Klein, Zara (www.zara.com)  and my favorite pair of skinny jeans I was ready to hit the town and immerse myself in a sea of colors and culture. I drove downtown after meeting up with a few students from Watkins, boarded a shuttle bus that took us to the historic Arcade Building and began observing carefully all the work in the different galleries. It was superb to say the least. I mean… there were a few pieces that I was not a fan of, but even those were still good. Until I arrived at the last gallery, there they were.

Pieces done by our very own John Whitten (www.johnpwhitten.com) and Kelly Bonadies!  They were excellent! Superb! Watkins College of Art making noise all over the city! People, Students, Artist wake up! Arise! You are a part of a new movement. A new wave taking place in our school and we are taking it out into the city. Sorry, I get a little excited when talking about happenings here at Watkins.

 In the midst of all the art, wine and cheese a thought came to mind. Maybe it was more of an observation. Keeping in mind that this was my first gallery crawl ever pay attention to this observation. “ Gallery crawls are a great place to make subtle yet strong political staments.” What makes me say this? The hip and colorful Obama shirts I saw last night paired wonderfully under an America apparel cardigans.

Moving on, I recommend the Gallery Crawl to everybody from Art enthusiasts to people that know very little about art. Is a fabulous way to spend an evening, and could make for a fun date out in the town. Obviously, I wouldn’t now that as a fact, because I did not take a date last night, but you try it out next month and let me know what you think.

 

 

Ride the wave.

Jean- Michael Vissepo

Labor Day Weekend.

This past weekend I was able to celebrate accordingly the blessing that it is to live in a country were the individual can become in debt as soon as he or she graduates from high school and labor the remaining days of his/her life to never finish paying of their debts. On Friday morning I was fortunate enough to wake up to a new day day full of tasks and errands to run. I cooked some eggs for brunch,watched a little television and left my place of residence to finish up some Film Noir homework. Once I got tired of doing my homework it was time for me to move into bigger and better things. There is nothing more relaxing to me than going to the movies all by myself. I thoroughly enjoy sitting in front of an enormous screen and diving into a world that is nothing like mine, magically created by cinema. I have always been a fan of Woody Allen and I find him to be quite the inventive director. No only for this reason, but also for the fact that his new movie was set in Barcelona, one of my favorite cities in the world, I was excited to watch his new film Vickie Crisitina Barcelona. However, when I walked out of the movie theatre I felt that the film did not deliver as much as I thought it would. Saturday brought a new meaning to the phrase "Labor Day weekend." After going about my morning routine I left my house and made my way over to Centennial Park where a group of Watkins students were participating in the great sport of Ultimate Frisbee. I ,however, was not able to participate in this wonderful activity ,because I was wearing a pair of jeans that did not allow for comfortable running under the hot weather conditions. Later on, that night, a few friends came over to the House and we all relaxed in front of a fire pit I had built the day before. Also, we all gathered in the living room moved away he couches and danced ( jumped up and down ) to "paper planes" by M.I.A. To say the least my Saturday was full of leisure and no labor at all. It happens every week you got to bed on a Saturday night and wake up on a Sunday morning. That is unless...well, you know. Moving on. Sunday came as early as 9am! After celebrating my labor with some schoolmates I was awaken to their voices. They came from the living room. They had slept on my floor, because they were "too tired to drive home last night." I cleaned up the house a little bit after they left ad of course I had to do my morning routine.Then, I receive a call from my parents. Strange? Not really. We talk often, about once a day. However, what was strange was the fact the fact that they were inviting me out to eat to a restaurant in Clarksville. Stranger than that was the fact that it was a Puerto Rican restaurant! Now, my parents live in Spring Hill probably about 3hrs from Clarksville , but when you think about it it was free Puerto Rican food that I was offered.They picked me up and few hours later and dropped me off at the House at around 6pm. I was in bed by 7pm after having eaten a Puerto Rican feast for free! i didn't even pay for gas ,because they drove! This is what my labor free leisure full labor day weekend looked liked. 'Till we speak again or see each other in the hallways of the greater education institution that is Watkins College of Art. Sincerely, Jean-Michael Vissepo