During Clouds of Color, John Cotner and Lydia Sera feature their mixed media abstracts.

John Cotner is a native of Chicago, born in 1957. At an early age he displayed a natural aptitude for art and music. He was enrolled in the Art Institute of Chicago's Young Artist Studio program. He received his BFA from Cooper Union in New York City, and an MA from NYU in 1987. From 1982-83 he participated in the Steinhardt School/ Venice Program. He returned to Chicago in 1992, joining the Fine Arts Department at the University of Chicago Lab School. Cotner has exhibited his work since the 1980s in galleries and art centers in New York, Chicago and various cities in South Carolina. His work has been included in prestigious juried shows such as Piccolo Spoleto (2010) and ArtFields (2013). He has been a consistent winner in the Sumter Artists’ Guild show over the past few years. Cotner has been a Sumter resident since 2009.

Lydia Sera Carruth is a visual artist and musician from Sumter, SC. From a family of artists, she loves working with any medium she can get her hands on. Inspired by her family and the warmth and musicality of the South, she lives in Sumter with her husband George in a home full of laughter, stringed instruments, and art supplies.