Spring 2004
Vol.2 | No. 1

Other Lives

By Ming Tai

Photography
by Mike Ciesielski

Other Lives
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John Cotterell,
Accelerated Student

Once an opera singer who performed with the Baltimore Opera Company and now a nursing student, John Cotterell’s artistic interests of late have turned to painting and drawing.

Cotterell became passionate about opera in college, where he earned a degree in visual and performing arts. But then he felt like it was time to “be responsible,” and to him that meant getting married and working in the family business.

More than 20 years later, Cotterell has found a place for himself in the field of nursing and will graduate from the school’s accelerated program in July. But his artistic side still lives. As an abstract artist, he works on large surfaces (typically 5’x7’) with water-based media like acrylic or water-soluble pencils and crayons. He and his wife, Dianna, an RN and artist as well as photographer, have adjacent studios in their townhome, where they compete for wall space to display their work.

Although the schedule of an accelerated student is very intense, Cotterell keeps a work-in-progress on the easel in his studio to ground him during stressful times.

“I will also occasionally work some ideas in miniature on postcard-sized pieces of heavy posterboard,” he says. “It’s an effective break from studies and recharges my right brain.”

While his continuing studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art have been temporarily interrupted, Cotterell plans to eventually earn a painting certificate. “I hope that I can develop my own unique artistic vision over the next few years,” he says, “and perhaps get gallery representation and manage some income from this hobby that I enjoy.”