Alissa Walker Live from Spring Show 2009

If you’ve been following the gelato drips I leave behind me like a trail of sweat and tears, you must know I’ve been plotting something pretty cool for the past few days. And now, my friends, as you can see, it’s finally happening!

The Academy of Art approached me a few months ago with the idea of somehow reporting their Spring Show. I was excited about capturing this major event, from chatting up the bigshots from the industry flying in to swoop up new talent, to hearing the perspectives of all the incredible students who are hoping to teleport their unique brands of optimism into the real world.

We talked about liveblogging, but really? That’s like totally 1998. Who needs blogs when we’ve got Flickr, and Vimeo, and Justin.tv and, yes, that devious Twitter? And thanks to one Randy J. Hunt, who is currently ensconced in a high-security web design bunker at an undisclosed location, this beautiful site will be up and running all day, so you can meet all the students, faculty and reviewers I’ll come across, and witness all of the talent they possess, in a cool new way.

So stay tuned, look at the pretty pictures, laugh (hopefully) at my 140-character quips, and if you know of a student with excellent work that I’ve just got to check out, or you’re on your way over here yourself to check out the work, or you just want to say hi, let me know via Twitter. I’m @gelatobaby. Of course.

However, if you are here in San Francisco, I hope that you can come be a part of Spring Show, live. More details on how that will happen later, but I highly suggest keeping the hour-and-a-half from 2:30-4pm free. Or, if the boss will allow, the rest of the afternoon as well. It will be simply delicious.