Christian Sottile is the founding principal of Sottile & Sottile, a Savannah-based firm working primarily in Nationally Registered Historic Districts. The firm’s work includes urban design and civic architecture, and emphasizes historic research, urban analysis and community-wide engagement. Their work has been featured in the New York Times, Preservation Magazine, Architect Magazine and Architectural Digest. Concurrently with his professional practice, Sottile is a professor of architecture and urban design at the Savannah College of Art and Design and is the former dean of the SCAD School of Building Arts. In this role, Sottile led the graduate and undergraduate programs in Architecture, Architectural History, Historic Preservation, Interior Design, Furniture Design and Urban Design. Sottile has received over fifty awards for his work, including three international Charter Awards from the Congress for the New Urbanism, awards from the American Planning Association, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, three National Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects and the Global Award for Excellence from the Urban Land Instite.

Inspired by the deep South Denise Carson has spent over two decades living on a barrier island in the low country of Savannah, Georgia. Southern Gothic aesthetic strongly influences her creative genre. Carson’s painting, printmaking, sculpture and photography work explores reflections on themes of childhood, faith, suffering, loss, compassion and unconditional love.

Denise Carson completed both her B.F.A. and M.F.A. at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Carson is a full-time professor of painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Carson has a comprehensive exhibition history, twenty- seven international solo and group exhibitions, and seven solo exhibitions in the United States. Notably, her work was highlighted at the 2001 International Young Art Auction at Sotheby’s in Chicago, New York and Tel Aviv, Israel. Her work was also selected for the Southern edition of New American Paintings and Studio Visit publications 2018-2019.

Denise Carson’s work is in the Smithsonian Museum American art collection, the American Girl corporate headquarters in Chicago, The Plaza Hotel in New York City, the Savannah College of Art and Design permanent collection, Benecki Homes Architects in Atlanta and numerous private collections in the United States and Abroad.

A native of Frankfort, Ky., Bill Dawers earned two degrees at Washington University in St. Louis before moving for teaching positions in northern Massachusetts and then Philadelphia. Bill made Savannah his home nearly 30 years ago and has taught literature, writing, journalism, and other courses for many years at Georgia Southern University (formerly Armstrong State University). As a freelancer, he has written about 3,000 columns for the Savannah Morning News, including on a wide range of topics related to local arts and culture. In recent years, he has been researching the life and work of the long-neglected Savannah artist Paul Goadby Stone.