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Poetter Hall was purchased by the SCAD founders in March 1979. Classes began in September of that year.  
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The Arts

Professor shows ‘Other’ side of Savannah

“Cockspur Kayak” by Kirt Witte

“Cockspur Kayak” is on display at the Starland Center for Contemporary Art Nov. 1-30.

By Hannah Pittard
Published: Friday, October 31, 2003

Savannah College of Art and Design Presidential Fellowship recipient Kirt Witte may be a computer art professor but his talents certainly aren’t limited to the subject. Showing off his handiness with a camera, Witte offers “The Other Savannah,” an exhibition featuring photographs of exactly what the show’s title suggests.

“I like to think of ‘The Other Savannah’ as the real Savannah,” said Witte, who earned his B.S. in photography from Sam Houston State University. “Savannah has a million stories to tell, but she doesn’t like to reveal her secrets to strangers. Approximately 3.5 million visitors come to Savannah every year, but I have read that the average stay is less than 48 hours.”

Witte said his plan is to prove to locals and tourists alike that Savannah’s scope goes far beyond downtown. “Savannah is so much more than the historic district and so much more that what people perceive in John Berendt’s ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,’” he said. “When you live here, you get to experience a whole collection of little details. It is not any one building or fountain. It’s the iron fence on the corner; it’s the woodwork around the window; and, of course, it’s the people that make Savannah a truly unique city.”

To accomplish his goal of showing Savannah as a multilayered city Witte used nontraditional photographic methods such as 130-degree panoramas, time exposures and infrared film. “This started out as an entirely personal project,” he said. “After 10 years of almost no photography, I started shooting again because Savannah was so inspirational to me — a surprise around every corner.”

Influenced heavily by Ansel Adams, George Lucas and National Geographic, Witte worked for 10 years as a 3-D animator and graphic artist for such companies as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Lockheed-Martin and the JASON Project. Now a computer art professor at SCAD, Witte is working toward his M.F.A. in computer art. He is also working to publish “The Other Savannah.” It will be his first book.

In addition to his solo exhibition, Witte has also been accepted into the Ninth Annual Telfair Art Fair, a juried exhibition and group show, Nov. 8-9, on Telfair Square.

“The Other Savannah” is on display at the Starland Center for Contemporary Art, 2424 Bull St., Nov. 1-30. A reception will be held Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. To view more of Witte’s work, visit his Web site, www.theothersavannah.com.