John Salminen AWS df, NWS

After earning his B.S. degree and M.S. degrees at the University of Minnesota and  teaching art in high schools for many years, John currently teaches  workshops, makes presentations and participates in painting events around the world.

John holds signature membership in numerous prestigious art societies in the United States including AWS-df, NWS, SDWS, Allied Artists of America and TWSA-DM. He has served on the board of TWSA and is a current board member of the American Watercolor Society.

John 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.  He has been honored with the Shanghai Biennial Award, The Pakistan Lifetime Achievement Award and the Thailand Ministry of Culture and the Arts award. He has participated in fifty-seven invitational international exhibitions in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Russia, Japan, Greece, Mexico, Pakistan, Canada, Italy, England, Belgium, Ecuador and Australia. 

John has won more than 270 awards in national and international exhibitions, including: the AWS Gold Medal two times, the AWS Silver Medal twice and many High Winds Medals; 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 had 35 one-person exhibitions in the United States, as well as several small group shows.

John is a frequent juror and judge of national and international exhibitions. His work is included in permanent museum collections and numerous private and corporate collections around the world and his paintings are featured in forty-two books on four continents and in many major national and international magazines.

Calhoun and Wells