John Soderberg

Meet John Soderberg. John is an Iconic ‘Face’ Of our community.  Recognized as one of America’s top Sculptors with works on display all around the country.  His standout works are well known in Sedona. Here is my interview with this amazingly talented man who is also known for making great contributions to service work.

 

Tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do.

I’ve been a professional sculptor for 40 years, a service worker for 40 years, worked against apartheid with Amnesty International, and against trafficking and slavery with a leading group in the world back in the ’90s and 2000s. I sculpted the freedom award honoring the five people in the world each year that have accomplished the most against modern slavery. My life encompasses service work, sculpting, and teaching. I’ve been teaching sculpture for almost 40 years around the country at different academies and workshops. I was involved in a program where 350 inner-city school kids came to a sculpture workshop for a week, and many of those kids never heard of art. It changed their lives when they found they could create something with their fingers.

 

I did a two-week workshop in my gallery for children at the Wall Earth Running River School. Each child created between two to five sculptures. They each had a chance to unveil their bronze sculpture, and it became a fundraiser for the school. I have ongoing sculpture classes in my studio every Monday and Thursday from 11 AM to 4 PM.

 

Q: Tell me about the Merlin Sculpture?

A: I researched everything I could find about Merlin for six months before I started sculpting. He was born about 540 AD not long after Rome pulled back from occupying Britain. Merlin was one of the most powerful shamans in history. He was the king’s sorcerer/wizard. 

 

Q: What inspired you or led you to your current career?

A: My Dad and Mom loved art and took me to every art museum and gallery around the world from the time I could walk. When I was five, we left Afghanistan on the way to India, and we stopped in Rome at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City. My mom held me up as I touched Moses’s foot by Michelangelo. I was impressed by how he could move me hundreds of years after he died with his art. I wanted to be a sculptor from that time on.

 

Q: Has fear set in for you in being an artist?

A: I worked for many years as an artist. When I was 17 or 18, I dropped out of college. I ended up living in Berkley, painting in the streets in the middle of the riots. I almost died there. I joined the Marine Corp to save my life and started doing service work. I learned how to make metal jewelry, and it eventually evolved into sculpture. I don’t know if I call it fear, but I became very concerned that I was mistreating my family trying to be an artist. I sculpted all night and day. I still had a lot of family time with my kids and my first wife. I had no money for lessons. My first bronze was so ugly I couldn’t give it away—the second one sold to a guy who used it as a boat anchor in Lake Havasu. But I didn’t give up. I learned little by little. My in-laws lovingly told me if I cared about my family, I would put away my art and go to construction. But I was stubborn and pursued, getting into the best gallery in Arizona at that time. I went from making a dollar per hour to selling a quarter to 30 million a year. There’s a lot of fear or concern in reaching this level. I’ve seen a lot of artists who make it in their career – they start making money and become too scared to evolve because they might lose their customers who purchase their work. So, I made a point to just jump around from theme to theme, style to style. Many of my collectors end up buying 30 or 40 bronzes because they are all different, and they all have some kind of message and story. An artist is a small businessperson subject to the same rules, cash flows, supply, and demand. You have to be mature about that and operate as a business as well as the love and calling.

 

Q: What do you like about Sedona?

A: I love it because professionally, I can be in Los Angeles, Denver, Loveland Colorado, and Santa Fe, all within a day. I raised my kids on a 10-acre ranch in the Verde Valley. We had over 140 animals, mostly rescues, and a big horse barn for my studio. I used to show my work at many of the galleries in Sedona. I love the eclectic feeling. I love the fact that you never know who you are talking to. I love the fact that people visit here from all over the world.

 

Q: Tell me about the organization you are most involved in?

A: Part of my calling besides art is my service work. I’ve worked against apartheid, slavery, trafficking, and abuse. I’ve been on the Board for the Sanctuary, an organization assisting victims of domestic abuse. A Swedish Count knighted me in ’98 for service to women and children.

 

Q: How long have you lived or worked in Sedona?

A: Over 35 years.

 

Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in Sedona?

A: Terrie Frankel is fantastic; she knows everybody. Dwayne Gross, I have known for 30 years. He is a healer. He has healed terminal patients with his hands, and he brought Garchen, one of Dalai Lama’s teachers, to Arizona. Garchen was imprisoned by the Chinese for 20 years and tortured, and finally got out. Dwayne made it possible for Garchen to build his Garchen Institute near here. Garchen lived with him for a year while they built it. He invited me to come and meet Garchen. I sat and listened to this guy tell me about the prison, torture, and he is giggling and drinking tea. He is the happiest person I ever met.

 

Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? And why?

A: I loved the forest in Switzerland, Northern India, the Yucatan Peninsula, Africa, parts of Mexico, and spent a lot of time in Egypt. I would like to visit New Zealand and Australia. 

 

Q: What is your favorite movie, OR what is the first movie you remember seeing in a theatre?

A: Invictus, one of the best movies ever made.

 

Q: What advice would you give to people?

A: If you want to enrich your life, be of service to others. It’s the ripple effect – you help one person that person helps two people, and those two people help four. We are compassionate beings.

 

Q: What do you think your superpowers are?

A: I never had talent, my early bronze was ugly and bad, but I had passion, desire, and the ability to criticize my work and accept mistakes.

 

Q: What is your favorite music/ 3 bands you would like to see (dead or alive)?

A: My favorite music is Country Western, Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine by Tom T, City of New Orleans, Bobby Mcgee, Chris Dodson, and Janis Joplin.

 

Q: Choosing anyone alive and a non-relative, who would you have lunch with?

A: Probably Nelson Mandela, one of the great peacemakers. I met Eisenhower when I was seven; he came to our little school and gave me an American flag.

 

Q: What is your favorite place in Sedona?

A: Thai Palace Uptown. I lived in Thailand for eight years, and Thai food is fantastic.

 

Q: What’s your favorite thing to do in Sedona?

A: Sculpt and teach. I like hiking, and I love standing at the airport vortex before the sun comes up at dawn.

 

Q: What is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?

A: Humility through service.

 

Q: What three words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?

A: Home is where your heart is. I grew up without my country without roots. I’ve been to India, Thailand, and Afghanistan. They were home at that time, but I was always aware that America was my home.

 

Q: If you were cast into a major motion picture and had your choice of anyone to be your co-star, whom would you choose?

A: I like Jeff Bridges.

 

Q: If you had a full-time staff member, who would you choose? Chef, Housekeeper, Driver, Coach, Physical Fitness Trainer, or Nanny?

A: Nobody, I like to do it on my own.

 

Q: What is your perfect day in Sedona?

A: Get a tea or cappuccino, watch the sun come up at the airport vortex, have a good talk with people, have breakfast with one or more good friends, and do a little teaching and sculpting. A perfect day includes dinner with friends too.

 

Website https://www.johnsoderberg.com/ and info@johnsoderberg.com

From the interview with Jonelle Klein

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