Carol Salmanson is a Brooklyn-based artist working with light and reflective materials. She uses optics along with a variety of lighting technologies and reflective materials to create large installations and unique objects with light as both medium and subject. Salmanson says that her art “explores the energy embedded in subconscious perceptions and calculations, the things you see and know without realizing it.”

Her most recent installation, Park Lights, was presented by Smart Spaces in the windows of 254 Park Avenue South in New York City. Solo exhibition venues include Mixed Greens Gallery, Dam Stuhltrager Gallery, Saint Peter’s Church, and PS 122 Gallery in New York City, and Gallery Ju-ichi Gatsu in Tokyo. Salmanson has recently participated in the following group exhibitions: Dumbo Arts Festival (2010); Resplendency, East/West Project, Berlin (2010); Incandescent, 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel, New York City (2008); Trellis: A Sculpture Survey, Rupert Ravens Contemporary, Newark (2008); Host, Soap Factory, Minneapolis (2007); Corpse of Time, Galeria Janet Kurnatowski, Brooklyn (2007); and The Raw and the Cooked, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2006). She will have solo exhibitions at Storefront Bushwick Gallery in 2012 and Visual Arts Center of New Jersey in 2013.

Salmanson was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She received a B.S. in Biological Psychology from Carnegie-Mellon University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, after which she attended the Arts Students League, the School of Visual Arts, where she was a Public Art Resident, and the National Academy of Fine Arts as an Abbey Mural Workshop Fellow. She is currently Vice President of the Board of Trustees of NURTUREart Non-Profit, and lectures frequently on her public installation projects.

 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

Solo

2013

  • Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ (upcoming)

2012

  • Storefront Bushwick Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (upcoming)

2011

  • “Park Lights,” window installations commissioned by 254 Park Avenue South and presented by Smart Spaces, New York, NY

2008

  • “Diaphany”, Mixed Greens Gallery Glow Room Project, New York, NY

2007

  • “Upon Reflection”, Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2005

  • “Luminous Layers”, Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
  • “Luminous Layers”, PS122 Gallery Hallway Project, New York, NY
  • “Perceptual Architecture”, Narthex and Stairwell Gallery, St. Peter’s Church, New York, NY
  • Elevator Light Installations, d.u.m.b.o. art under the bridge festival, Brooklyn, NY

2003

  • Gallery Ju-ichi gatsu, Tokyo, Japan

1997

  • La Mama La Galeria, New York City, NY
  • Gallery 128, New York City, NY

1996

  • Edward Williams Gallery, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Hackensack, NJ

1995

  • Quimby Gallery, Lyndon State College, Lyndonville, VT

1994

  • 26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY
  • Treasure Room Gallery at the Interchurch Center, New York, NY

1992

  • Catamount Arts, St. Johnsbury, VT
  • The Knitting Factory Gallery, New York City, NY

Two- and Three- Person

2008

  • “Incandescent”, 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel, New York, NY

2004

  • “Surroundings”, Safe-T-Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
  • Kawaguchi Art Factory, Kawaguchi, Japan

Group

2012

  • Galeria Janet Kurnatowski, Brooklyn, NY (upcoming)

2010

  • “New Year, New Work, New Faces”, Storefront Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
  • “Respendency,” the East/West Project, Berlin, Germany

2009

  • 10th Anniversary Show, Mixed Greens Gallery, New York, NY

2008

  • “Trellis, A Sculpture Survey,” Rupert Ravens Contemporary, Newark, NJ

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

2006

  • “Newark Between Us,” curated by Rupert Ravens and the Newark Arts Council, Newark, NJ
  • “The Raw and the Cooked”, curated by David Gibson, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
  • “Bright and Shining”, Safe-T-Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
  • “Facing Newark”, curated by Rupert Ravens and the Newark Arts Council, Newark, NJ
  • “Project Glow”, d.u.m.b.o art under the bridge festival, Brooklyn, NY (canceled due to weather)
  • “Lost in Place”, curated by David Gibson, Planet Thai, Brooklyn, NY
  • “Merry Peace”, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
  • 1st Annual Benefit for Breast Cancer, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
  • “Seen It All”, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY
  • “Merry Peace”, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
  • “Multiple Memorials”, organized by Mary Miss, Viridian Gallery, New York, NY
  • “Art Against War”, curated by Frank Shifreen, Macy Gallery, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY“Mixed”, 450 Broadway Gallery, New York, NY
  • “Reactions”, Exit Art, New York, NY
  • “WTC: Living in the Shadows/A 25 Year Collective Retrospective”, Bronx River Art Center and Gallery, Bronx, NY
  • “To Scale”, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY“Peace Show”, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY
  • “Galaxy 128”, Gallery 128, New York, NY
  • “Conflux”, Lamia Ink! Gallery, New York City, NY
  • “War”, Postmasters Gallery, New York City, NY
  • “Marvelous Miniatures”, Cortland Jessup Gallery, New York, NY
  • “Bridge”, Sakai City Museum, Sakai City, Japan

HONORS AND AWARDS

  • 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
  • 2005 Finalist, Louisiana Station Percent-for-Art (rapid transit station), Denver, CO

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • 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%E2%80%99s-light-and-refraction/)
  • Qi Peng, “EXCLUSIVE ASSASSINATION: Carol Salmanson,”  Salt Lake City Fine Arts Examiner, October 15, 2009 (http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-3879-Salt-Lake-City-Fine-Arts-Examiner~y2009m10d15-EXCLUSIVE-ASSASSINATION-Carol-Salmanson-Artist-Represented-by-Dam-Stuhltrager-Gallery)
  • Jill Conner, “Carol Salmanson at Mixed Greens,” Art Quips: Writing Outside the Mainstream, July 21, 2009 (http://artquips.blogspot.com/2009/07/diaphany-by-carol-salmanson.html)
  • John Majeski, “Architecture Inspires Installation Artist”, Real Estate Weekly, February 11, 2009, p.12B
  • “Carol Salmanson – Diaphany 2009″ PIC OF THE DAY, artcritical.com, February 9, 2009 (http://www.artcritical.com)
  • “‘Diaphany’ by Carol Salmanson: Mixed Greens Glow Room, NY”, Storm From the East Online, January 12, 2009 (http://www.storm-from-the-east.com/2009/01)
  • “Artists at Work” by Shaq Melamed, January 18, 2009 (http://mylineandcolor.blogspot.com)
  • “Carol Salmanson’s Diaphany”, Dexigner Online, January 9, 2009, http://www.dexigner.com/art/news-g16574.html)
  • “Carol Salmanson: Diaphany, Mixed Greens, New York, NY”, Minus Space Log, December 2, 2008 (http://www.minusspace.com/tag/carol-salmanson)
  • Sarah Norris, “The A-list”, Chelsea Now, December 17-23, 2008, p.10 and online, (www.chelseanow.com)
  • “Carol Salmanson: Diaphany”, InLiquid, (http://www.inliquid.com/gallery/mixedgreens/mixedgreens.php)
  • “Carol Salmanson ‘Diaphany’”, NY Art Beat (http://www.nyartbeat.com/event/2008/4B65)
  • “Carol Salmanson ‘Diaphany’”, Artlog, (http://artlog.com/events/2628-carol-salmanson-diaphany)
  • Joe Walentini, “Corpse of Time”, Abstract Art Online, June 1, 2007 (http://www.abartonline.com/#corpse)
  • “Corpse of Time: Top Pick”, ArtCal, May, 2007 (http://www.artcal.net/event/view/2/4732)
  • “Carol Salmanson and China Blue at DAM STUHLTRAGER Gallery,” jameskalm, April 24, 2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8RPETJueaE
  • Jill Conner, “China Blue, Carol Salmanson”, the Brooklyn Rail, June, 2007, p. 36§
  • “Williamsburg Galleries on Sunday”, jameswagner.com, April 24, 2007   (http://jameswagner.com/mt_archives/006232.html)
  • Recent Art News: “Upon Reflection” light installation by Carol Salmanson”, Art Knowledge News, (http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Carol_Salmanson.html)
  • “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
  • “Taking It to the Streets of DUMBO”, Brooklyn Courier, October 10, 2005, p. 10
  • James Kalm, “Carol Salmanson and Jae Hi Ahn”, Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery”, the Brooklyn Rail, April 2005, p. 26
  • Jeffrey Cyphers Wright, “Playing the Grotto,” offoffoff.com, November 28, 2004
  • Matt Windman, amNewYork, Weekend, August 6-8, 2004, “Carol Salmanson”, p. 23

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

  • Member, Board of Trustees, NURTUREart Non-Profit, Inc.
  • Guest Panelist, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent-for-Art, May 2008
  • Presenter, 9,000,002nd Dorkbot Meeting, New York City, NY, November 2005
  • 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 Brooklyn, NY