John Salminen earned his Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in art 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 in the United States, 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.  John has won more than 250 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 had 34 one-person exhibitions in the United States, as well as several small group shows.

John is the President of the International Masters of Watercolour Association centered in Shanghai China and is a member of top organizations in China and Australia. 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.  Among other awards, John has received 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, Greece, Mexico, Pakistan, Canada, Italy, England, Belgium, Equador and Australia.

John’s work is included in permanent collections in Asia and Europe as well as in numerous private and corporate collections around the world and he has served as juror and/or judge of over 90 national and international exhibitions. His work has been featured in many articles in eight major national and international magazines and in forty-two 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.  Creative Catalyst has published two teaching DVD’s, Abstraction Through Design and Realism Through Design.  He is currently working on a new DVD with Streamline and Creative Catalyst, combining both abstraction and realism.