Meet Jill Trenholm.

Q: Tell us a little bit about you.
A: I am a sculptor, a musician, and an occasional cake decorator. I have two kids and one
grandson. I was raised by a mom who was a Kindergarten teacher, who used me as her guinea
pig to drum up successful classroom art projects. She was very influential to me, and my sister,
who is also an artist in Utah.

Q: What do you do here in Sedona?
A: I began sculpting with the legendary sculptor, John Soderberg, five years ago. When I’m not
sculpting, I play guitar, songwrite, and decorate cakes at Karen’s Gluten Free Bakeshop.

Q: Have you only been sculpting for five years?
A: No, I’ve been sculpting for many years. I have a background in product design when I lived in
Los Angeles, I’ve sculpted a line of figurines that were sold internationally, and I’ve also been
featured on QVC for my work, the Home Shopping Network.

Q: You’ve lived in Sedona five years? And where’d you come from?
A: I was born in Wyoming, then moved to New York, Los Angeles, the Pacific Northwest, and
now here.

Q: What do you do here for fun, other than all of the things that you do?
A: I love to hike. And this is the perfect place to live if you love hiking.

Q: Is that what brought you here?
A: Hiking and art brought me here. I was very interested in sculpting, and particularly sculpting
in bronze. I was standing in line at the grocery store one day when I heard two people in front of
me talking about John Soderberg teaching a child prodigy sculptor. I said, “Excuse me, John
Soderberg is teaching?”. And they said there was an ad in Kudos magazine. I found the ad,
emailed him, and Mr. Soderberg responded with: “I’m at the studio, you can come over right
now”. I went over right at that moment and began that day.

Q: Who’s one of the most interesting people you’ve ever met here in Sedona?
A: Definitely John Soderberg. I started working with him by taking lessons, and then I became
his assistant. He called me his protege, which is an honor. My partner Frank and I were his
caregivers up until his passing.
Q: What’s your favorite restaurant in Sedona?

A: I am vegan and I like Picazzo’s for their vegan menu. I also like Fresh & Natural Thai
Kitchen. Gerardo’s is great too, the people are so nice, and Mariposa has an incredible view.

Q: What one piece of advice changed your life?
A: “Follow your bliss”. It is so simple, but so true. If you do what you love, you will always be
happy.

Q: How would your best friend describe you?
A: Kind and creative. People who know me know that I always have my fingers in something
and that I am always trying new things. I’m thrilled about expanding my studio soon and
offering sculpting workshops for kids and adults.

Q: And so where’s the studio?
A: Right next to where John Soderberg’s studio was, on West 89A and Roadrunner Dr.

Q: You do so many different interesting things. Is there something you didn’t tell me about
that some might find interesting?
A: Yes. People may not know that I’ve written a children’s book series with seven books. The
series was turned into a program for schools to teach kids how to practice kindness, for
communities in Arizona and the Pacific Northwest.

Q: How do you find the time to do all this?
A: I get up and go to bed early, but mainly I think I just have a lot of energy.