Artist with Maine Roots

Jesse Salisbury grew up on the rural and rock bound coast of Maine and was influenced by this dynamic geology and natural beauty from an early age.  He began carving wood with a local professional artist while in grammar school.  Working directly with professional artists was a vital part of his artistic training.

Early Artistic Training

Jesse Began his formal artistic training in High School in Japan.  After graduating from High School he apprenticed with renowned traditional ceramic artists Ren and Mami Katayama and has  returned many times to work and study with them.  After graduating college with a liberal arts education specializing in art and Asian culture with a focus on sculpture making, Jesse again traveled to study with a variety of artists in the US.  The difficulty to learn traditional and contemporary carving techniques for granite and hard stones in the United States again led him to return to Japan in the late 1990’s to work with contemporary sculptors Katsumi Ida and Atsuo Okamoto and others.  He worked as a professional assistant and translator at the Yonago International Sculpture Symposium in  Tottori, Japan.

After this experience he began to build his studio on family land in his hometown of Steuben, Maine and experiment with the local granites available in the area.  The next decade was dedicated to the creation of one of a kind stone sculptures in a variety of scales.  He also began to travel as an invited artist to international sculpture symposia where he created large pieces for public art.  Beginning in 2005 Jesse founded the Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium which organized the creation of  sculptures by National and International artists for a public collection of 34 sculptures that spans three counties in Eastern Maine.  As the founder and art director he guided all aspects of this ambitious project including building relationships and negotiating contracts with Acadia National Park, The University Of Maine, state government agencies, local nonprofit organizations, and more then 30 municipalities that partnered with the sculpture symposium to make the project a success.  Jesse  continues to consult with other agencies on the East Coast and the Canadian Maritimes about  organizing events to create public art.  After a decade of developing his own sculptures and founding a major public art event, Jesse is now focused on developing his sculptures on an even larger scale, and in the public realm, in projects that fuse landscape and art, and require collaboration, communication, efficiency, and integrity.