2007 Juror

John T. Salminen is a signature member of ten watercolor societies including American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society and Watercolor USA Honor Society. In addition, he is a member of the AWS Dolphin Fellowship and holds Master Status in the Transparent Watercolor Society of America (formerly Midwest Watercolor Society.) He is a frequent juror, most notably for American Watercolor Society in 2000 and 2003 plus Awards Judge in 2005 and National Watercolor Society in 2003. He has won more than fifty prizes in national shows, including the Silver Medal and Four High Winds Medals in American Watercolor Society. His work is widely published in national and international publications. John’s abstract mixed media painting, Battery Park II, was awarded First Place in the Experimental Category of The Artist’s Magazine Competition in 2000.

I think of jurying a show as a process of inclusion rather than elimination.  I tried to choose works that represent watermedia in all of its creative aspects: from realism to abstraction; from traditional subjects to experiments; from paintings dependent on precise technical control to fast and loose styles; and from paintings that convey the artist’s love of his or her subject matter to paintings that celebrate the expressive nature of paint. 

Judging was perhaps the most difficult task. I spent as much time as possible looking at each painting.  Over time and with repeated viewings, certain paintings began to draw me back.  This is a subjective process and the resulting choices are an amalgam of what I’m capable of interpreting and what the artist is able to evoke.  It is also a collaborative process, based on our mutual love and respect for the medium. 

Congratulations to all who submitted work and to everyone represented in the South Carolina Watermedia Society’s 30^th Annual Exhibition. Thank you to all of the people who worked hard to make this exhibition possible.