John Cotterell is a native of Maryland born into a creative family. As a child, he was a precocious singer and actor and carried these talents through college. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland Baltimore County with a bachelors degree in the visual and performing arts. Until recently, John has primarily sought artistic expression in various musical organizations around Maryland including the Baltimore Opera Company in which he served as a tenor.

As a visual artist, John has received formal instruction at the Maryland Instutued College of Art. The abstractions of Motherwell and Still inspire him and he enjoyed the personal instruction of painters Olin Yoder and Virginia Cobb.

John keeps his studio and resides in the City of Balimore living with his wife, Dianna and a trio of cats.