120th International Exhibition of Works on Paper

John Salminen

Juror of Selection

I would like to thank the Philadelphia Watercolor Society for inviting me to serve as the juror for the 2020 International Exhibition. Thank you also to the artists who submitted their work and to all of the people who made this online exhibit a reality.

I viewed all of the submissions several times before I began to make my initial decisions. It’s often the pieces that don’t conform to set standards, or that push the limits of those standards, that raise the bar and expand our definitions of our chosen mediums. I didn’t want to miss any of them. As I viewed each submission, I looked for form and content, style, technical ability, originality and the ability to gain and maintain the viewer’s interest.

It was a pleasure to see such a broad cross-section of work… landscapes and cityscapes, florals, figurative work, abstracts and experimental pieces. I hope you enjoy viewing this impressive collection online as much as I have. We’ll all be counting the days until we rejoin friends and acquaintances to view artwork in person again.