John Salminen earned his Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree from the University of Minnesota. He lives and works in Duluth, Minnesota. John teaches workshops, makes presentations and participates in painting events around the world.
John is a signature member of numerous art societies, including the American Watercolor Society – Dolphin Fellowship, the National Watercolor Society, and the Transparent Watercolor Society of America – Distinguished Master.
He has served on the board of the TWSA and is a current board member of the American Watercolor Society . He is an honorary member of the Jiangsu Watercolor Research Institute in China and the first American ever to be awarded membership in the Australian Watercolour Institute.
John has won more than 230 awards in national and international exhibitions, including the AWS Gold Medal two times, the Silver Star First Place Award in the National Watercolor Society Exhibition two times, the Gold and Silver Medal in Allied Artists of America and the Transparent Watercolor Society of America first place award three times.
He has received the Shanghai Zhoujiajiao International Biennial Award, the Thailand Ministry of Culture and the Arts Award, the Pakistan Watercolor Society Lifetime Achievement award and mostly recently the Daniel Smith Award in the Shenzhen Biennale.
View John Salminen Watercolor Paintings
John has been an invited artist in fifty-four international watercolor exhibitions in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Russia, Singapore, Mexico, Pakistan, Canada, Italy, Turkey, Belgium, England, Ecuador and Australia. He has had 33 one person shows in the United States.
His work is included in permanent collections in Asia and Europe as well as in numerous private and corporate collections around the world.
John has served as juror and/or judge of over 85 national and international exhibitions. His work has been featured in eight major national and international magazines and in forty-two major books in the United States, Europe, Australia, Russia and Asia.
A retrospective book of his paintings, John Salminen Master of the Urban Landscape was published by North Light Books in October 2016. It’s available online through North Light Books, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.