Carol Salmanson works with light and reflective materials to create installations, sculptures, and wall pieces. Her work forms complex layered geometric compositions that radiate color out into their surroundings. Salmanson’s public window installations and sculptures have been seen in Russia, New York, and New Jersey, most recently in Manhattan in 2018. Her latest solo exhibitions were “Light Spills and Sprites” at Guild Gallery II (NY) in 2022, and “Two Sides to a Coin” at SL Gallery (NY) in 2018. In addition to her extensive solo, two-person, and group exhibition history nationally and internationally, she has curated and co-curated shows as well, including “Fire and Water” in the fall of 2022. Salmanson earned a B.S. from Carnegie-Mellon University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago; she subsequently studied art in New York City at the Arts Students League, School of Visual Arts, and National Academy of Fine Arts’ Abbey Mural Workshop Fellowship program. Awards include a grant from the United States Department of State, and residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the American Academy in Rome. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Independent Curators International, Smack Mellon, and the Hearing Health Foundation, and previously served for sixteen years as Board Vice President of NURTUREart Non-Profit, Inc.
RESUME
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RESUME
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Solo and Two-Person
2022 “Guild II Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
2018 SL Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
2015 “Urban Juxtapositions,” Slag Contemporary, Brooklyn New York (two-person)
“Elements,” Station Independent Projects, New York, NY (two-person)
2014 “As Above, So Below,” Brian Morris Gallery, New York, NY (two-person)
2013 “Light Lines,” Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ (solo)
2012 Storefront Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY (solo)
2007 “Upon Reflection,” Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (solo)
2005 “Luminous Layers,” Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (solo)
2004 “Luminous Layers,” PS122 Gallery Hallway Project, New York, NY (solo)
“Perceptual Architecture,” Narthex and Stairwell Gallery, St. Peter’s Church, New York, NY (solo)
“Surroundings,” Safe-T-Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (two-person)
Group
2024 “Light, Line and Sound,” featuring the 2024 National Arts Club Fellows, Nation Arts Club, New York
“Counterpointe11,” collaborative art and ballet performance with Danielle Diniz, produced by Norte Maar, Brooklyn, NY (Upcoming)
“Picturing Light,” curated by Anne Finkelstein, Fashion Institute of Technology Art and Design Gallery, New York, NY (catalog) (upcoming)
2023 “Group Show 3,” curated by Leah Oates, Gallery 1313, Toronto, Canada
2022 “Matrixes,” curated by Jaynie Gilman Crimmins, Kate Oh Gallery, New York, NY
2020 “Drawing Challenge III,” Jason McCoy Gallery, New York, NY (online during pandemic)
2019 “Ho Hum All Ye Faithful Part 3,” BravinLee Programs, New York, NY
2018 “Mesmerize” (four-person), Odetta Gallery, Brookyn, NY
“Painting into Sculpture,” David&Schweitzer Contemporary, Brooklyn, NY
“On & On: Art Without End,” curated by Elizabeth Keithline, Beard Gallery at Wheaton College, Norton, MA
“Surface and Substance,” curated by Hester Simpson, the Painting Center, New York, NY
2017 “Bigger, Better, Bolder,” curated by Jaynie Gilman Crimmins, Christina J. Massey, and Etty Yaniv, a Chashama project, Brooklyn, NY
2016 “The Particle and the Wave,” curated by Jeanne Brasile and Gianluca Bianchino, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
2015 “On & On: Art Without End,” curated by Elizabeth Keithline, Mark Miller Gallery, New York, NY
“Williamsburg on Warren,” curated by Leah Stuhltrager and Cris Dam, One Art Space, New York, NY
“BRURAL: Skin of Liberty, Fractured and re-Structured” co-curated by Irina Danilova and Vladimir Seleznev as part of Project 59, Inc., Brooklyn, NY and Museum of Fine Art, Nizhny Tagil, Russia
2014 “A Familiar Line,” Key Projects, Queens, NY
“Color Formed,” curated by Jim Osman, FiveMyles, Brooklyn, NY
2013 “Illuminators,” OK Harris Gallery, New York, NY
2012 "Space Invaders," curated by Karin Bravin, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY
2010 “Resplendency,” East/West Project, Berlin, Germany
2008 “Trellis, A Sculpture Survey,” Rupert Ravens Contemporary, Newark, NJ
“Incandescent,” 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel, New York, NY
2007 “Host,” curated by Elizabeth M. Grady, The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN
“A Certain Slant of Light,” Danny Simmons’ Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
“Corpse of Time,” curated by Benjamin La Rocco, Galeria Janet Kurnatowski, Brooklyn, NY
2005 “Bright and Shining,” Safe-T-Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
“Facing Newark,” curated by Rupert Ravens and the Newark Arts Council, Newark, NJ
2004 Kawaguchi Art Factory, Kawaguchi, Japan
2003 “Multiple Memorials,” organized by Mary Miss, Viridian Gallery, New York, NY
2002 “Reactions,” Exit Art, New York, NY
PUBLIC ART PROJECTS
2020 Finalist, Quorum Center Lobby Feature Wall Art, Raleigh, NC
2018 Crown Colony, window installation at 266 W. 37th St, New York, NY, presented by Chashama
2016-17 Water Bubbles, a window installation in the White Tower, Cultural Transit Foundation, Ekaterinburg, Russia
2015-16 Tri-Quadular Cone, Summit Public Art, Summit, NJ
2014 Village Square, West 10th Street Window, Time Equities Inc. Art in Buildings Program, New York, NY
2013 Awarded New Britain Police Station Public Art Project, New Britain, CT, unrealized due to budget constraints
"Luminaria San Antonio" Light Festival, San Antonio, TX
"Rock Street" outdoor sculpture show curated by Lesley Heller and Deborah Brown
2012 Finalist, Seattle Department of Transportation Safe Routes to School, Seattle, WA
2011 “Park Lights,” window installations commissioned by 254 Park Avenue South, presented by Smart Spaces, New York, NY
Finalist, PS 290 Public Art for Public Schools, New York City School Construction Authority, New York, NY
2010 DUMBO Arts Festival Curated Exhibition, Brooklyn, NY
2008 “Diaphany,” Mixed Greens Gallery Glow Room Project, New York, NY
2005 Finalist, Louisiana Station Percent-for-Art (rapid transit station), Denver, CO
2004 “Luminous Layers” Elevator Light Installations, d.u.m.b.o. art under the bridge festival, Brooklyn, NY
CURATORIAL
2022 “Fire and Water,” Guild Gallery II, New York, NY
2017 “Tonal Shift,” co-curated with Katherine Daniels, Station Independent Projects, NY
2013 “The Language of Painting”, Lesley Heller Workspace, NY
HONORS AND AWARDS
2022 Visiting Artist, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy
2020 Artist Fellow, National Arts Club, New York, NY
2018 SPAR Residency, St. Petersburg, Russia
2016 United States Department of State, grant award
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts residency
2010 Abbey Mural Workshop Fellowship, National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, New York, NY
2005 Residency in Public Art, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY and MEDIA
“Carol Salmanson: Two Sides to a Coin” by Etty Yaniv, Art Spiel, August 6, 2018 https://artspiel.org/carol-salmanson-two-sides-to-a-coin/
Graziella Melania Graci, “The light of art lengthens the nights in Russia,” Il Giornale Dell’Arte, October 18, 2016
“It’s Not Dark in the Undark Festival,” Pilot FM 100.4, December 12, 2016
“Festival of Light Art “Not Dark,” Ural Web, December 17th, 2016
Alexandra Namyatova, “Frosty, fresh, and not dark”, December 21, 2016
“Not dark, but cold: Yekaterinburg was illuminated by contemporary art,“ Uralinform, December, 2016 “In Conversation: Leah Oates talks to Carol Salmanson,” NY Arts Magazine, online: June, 2013, http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/?p=10650; in print, September, 2013
"Carol Salmanson: From Painting about Light to Painting with Light," The Engine Institute, Inc., February 4th, 2013 (http://theengineinstitute.org/carol-salmanson-from-painting-about-light-to-painting-with-light)
“Luminaria 2013 at Instituto Cultural de Mexico,” Scott Andrews, San Antonio Current, April 2, 2013 https://www.sacurrent.com/sanantonio/luminaria-2013-at-instituto-cultural-de-mexico/Content?oid=2248051
Yuneikys Villalonga, "Space Invaders," Art Experience: New York City, Vol I, No. 10, Fall 2012
James Panero, "Gallery Chronicle," The New Criterion, June 2012 and "Carol Salmanson & Stephen Truax at Storefront Bushwick," Supreme Fiction (http://www.supremefiction.com/theidea/2012/05/carol-salmanson-stephen-truax-at-storefront-bushwick.html), May 26, 2012
Sharon Butler, "Sunday Stroll in Bushwick," Two Coats of Paint (http://www.twocoatsofpaint.com/2012/05/sunday-stroll-in-bushwick.html), May 21, 2012
Elisabeth Condon, "Bushwick Sunday," Raggedy Ann's Foot (http://elisabethcondon.blogspot.com/2012_05_01_archive.html), May 21, 2012
Edward Rubin, “Complex but Not Complicated,” NY Arts Magazine, October, 2010
Lope Gutierrez-Ruiz, “Carol Salmanson’s light and refraction,” Gopher Illustrated, May 12, 2010 (http://www.gopherillustrated.org/2010/05/carol-salmanson’s-light-and-refraction/)
"Carol Salmanson - Diaphany 2009" PIC OF THE DAY, artcritical.com, February 9, 2009 (http://www.artcritical.com)
"Carol Salmanson: Diaphany, Mixed Greens, New York, NY,” Minus Space Log, December 2, 2008
(http://www.minusspace.com/tag/carol-salmanson)
Jill Conner, “China Blue, Carol Salmanson,” the Brooklyn Rail, June, 2007, p. 36 (https://brooklynrail.org/2007/06/artseen/china-blue-carol-salmanson)
James Kalm (Loren Munk), “Carol Salmanson and China Blue,” at DAM STUHLTRAGER Gallery (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8RPETJueaE), April 24, 2007
“Gatormans Minx or Illuminated Antifolk,” Art or Something Like It, CUNY TV, December 15, 2006
“Gallery Hopping,” The New York Sun, October 14, 2005, p. 14
James Kalm, “Carol Salmanson and Jae Hi Ahn,” Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery”, the Brooklyn Rail, April 2005, p. 26 https://brooklynrail.org/2005/04/artseen/carol-salmanson-and-jae-hi-ahn
COMMUNITY and OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Trustee, Independent Curators International
Trustee, NURTUREart Non-Profit, Inc. (2003 through 2019)
Guest lecturer, Ural Federal University Institute of Humanities and Arts, 2016
Guest lecturer, The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center, Yekaterinburg, Russia, 2016
Guest lecturer, Yekaterinburg Academy of Contemporary Art-Russia-Yekaterinburg
Visiting Artist, Department of Art & Design Art Forum Lecture Series, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, March, 2013
Guest Panelist, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent-for-Art, May 2008
Guest Lecturer, New York School of Interior Design, February 2006
EDUCATION
Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Art Students League, New York, NY
School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, lives and works in New York City