The final addition of Field + Fire Talent is here and we kick off the inaugural events this Friday, January 19th. Take a look below to learn more about the talent and personalities behind Field + Fire.

Satchel

Satchel is a boutique + studio located in the heart of historic Savannah, Georgia, that specializes in hand crafting custom leather goods. Shop from the ever-changing collection in the store, which ranges from weekend duffels, everyday totes and handbags to wallets, wristlets, shotgun cases and, the locally popular, leather beverage koozie. If you don’t see exactly what you’re looking for, The Satchelettes with work with you to design your dream bag! Choose your style, leather, lining, and hardware, or start from scratch with one of your own ideas and it might even get named after you! Established in 2006 by SCAD grad Elizabeth Seeger Jolly, Satchel has grown to a team of six, who design and make every single piece in their Savannah studio! Sold in over 60 boutiques across the country, Satchel has also gained national recognition in publications such as Garden & Gun, Southern Living, Travel + Leisure, Money and Lucky Magazines.

David Soliday

David Shriver Soliday grew up in The Litchfield Hills of Connecticut where early on he developed an interest in birds and photography. He began to very seriously photograph while employed as an expedition mechanic. Trained in London by Land Rover, he maintained vehicles travelling from London to Nepal, in East Africa, and in northern Iceland. Developing an interest in world cultures, he earned a degree in Cultural Anthropology from Amherst College, Amherst, Mass.

He has published photographs and text in National Geographic Books & Calendars, National Wildlife, Smithsonian, and Geo Magazines among others. His first significant exhibition, a Retrospection, showed at the Gibbes Museum in Charleston.

Throughout his career, he has also applied his nature/landscape inclinations to commercial advertising photography, so his photography has spanned the spectrum from golf landscapes and architecture as well as high-end interiors and resort and lifestyle photography, to aerial ricefields and wildlife.

While “playing on google maps”, Soliday recognized an uncanny resemblance between the aerials of the rice fields he had been shooting in the South Carolina Lowcountry and the rice fields of West Africa. Thus began the journey on which we now find him. The photos we’ll see will lead Soliday to the marshes of west Africa in the coming year – and to the people who are most directly related to those who created the subject of his most recent work, Carolina Remnant. He now intends to produce a comparable portfolio to his Carolina Remnant collection with West African rice fields. He’s also advancing a new project – again aerial landscapes – hand-dug antebellum agricultural drainage systems and transport canals.

Alec Sparks

A mere 6’9″ tall, Vermont native Alec Sparks has trained sporting dogs professionally for over 24 years. His training has focused primarily on retrievers, pointing, and flushing breeds for AKC field trial competitions and hunt tests as well as for hunting sportsmen.

Sparks’ technique is to tailor training specifically for each individual dog. His low pressure program consistently produces confident stylish dogs that perform at the top of their abilities. Sparks is widely known in the sporting breed training circles for his positive training environment for young dogs, as well as his ability to successfully “turn around” dogs that have failed in higher pressure programs.

“For me, training is about understanding each individual dog, and then figuring out what works best for him or her from a training perspective. Sure, one-size-fits-all training is possible for all dogs — if you don’t care about having some failures. I’m after what brings out the very best in every dog, and helping each succeed,” says Sparks.

Aside from training full time, Sparks is author of the “Check Cord” column in Upland Almanac Magazine, and was in the “top 25” as a professional ski racer.

Carolyn Hawthorne

With career experience in marketing and public relations, specialty retail and fine art, Carolyn Hawthorne came to The Write Touch in 2006 with an eye for quality and design. Carefully curating her collection of goods, she buys pieces from artisans around the globe. The store caters to a sophisticated and creative clientele, offering an assortment of gifts and papers from the most traditional and elegant to cheeky and fun. The atmosphere is a perfect balance of hip and chic, with an expertly edited collection of wares and knowledgeable staff.

The Write Touch has been a retail fixture in Jacksonville for more than thirty-five years and is a monument to tradition and decorum with a progressive and updated flair. Specializing in international leather goods, bespoke stationery and invitations, art books, exceptional candles and entertaining wares. A variety of one-of-a-kind gifts and accent pieces from cashmere to exotic skin accessories and European writing instruments are available to choose from.

Windi Williams-Weaver

Windi Williams-Weaver has been actively involved in the sport of agility since 2001 and has trained a variety of dogs in all shapes, sizes and temperaments. She and her dogs compete and are titled in agility, flyball, dock diving, herding and barn hunt. Most are Canine Good Citizen’s with one being a certified therapy dog (now retired). In addition to holding numerous top level agility titles, her dogs have multiple top level placements in local, regional and national events such as the US Open and Cynosport. She even competes with her 3½ legged dog Biggie Smalls. Windi is a positive trainer that wants to bring out the best in every dog and handler, whether training for high levels of competition or just to have fun in the backyard. She was raised and has lived her entire life with dogs and other animals. That passion led to her founding Morningstar Animal Rescue which was inspired by her late grandmother, Mary Ann Morningstar Morris. Windi is a lab tech at Riverwalk Animal Hospital and runs Morningstar’s Clever K9s in Ridgeland, SC where she teaches, hosts seminars, and holds agility competitions. Her other passion is photography with a focus on dogs, wildlife and insects (especially spiders). She shares her life with a very patient husband, 1 son, 9 dogs (6 Border Collie’s, 2 Jack Russell’s and a Chihuahua), and 2 cats (who run the household!).