Sep 2, 2019
John Soderberg circled the world eight times and visited more than 60 countries before graduating high school in Bangkok, Thailand.
Born in 1950, John spent his first four years in Afghanistan, after which the family moved to India for five years, and then Thailand for eight years.
His parents loving art, John was exposed to the world’s great art in museums, galleries, cathedrals and temples, from the time he could walk. In Rome, when John was five, his mother Betty held him up so he could touch the foot of Michelangelo’s Moses. He experienced his first epiphany and was amazed at the ability of sculpture to move people, centuries after the artist was gone. He dedicated himself to art, started painting in oils at age four in Afghanistan, played with British clay in India at age 6, and studied teakwood carving with Thailand’s leading master, a Buddhist monk, from age 12.
After high school in Thailand, John came to America for college, in Washington State. Due to extreme culture shock, he dropped out and painted on the street in Berkeley, California, in the middle of the riots of the late 60s. In 1970, for a life-change, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps for three years. After receiving his Honorable Discharge, he worked as a machinist days and painted and made jewelry nights. Among others works, he completed a commission for a bracelet for Elvis Presley, then moved his family to Flagstaff, Arizona, to work in a bronze foundry to learn the art and craft of sculpture.
After numerous and interesting starving artist years, John began selling his art professionally, and served as Artist in Residence at Northern Arizona University. He later received his Ph.D. in Humane Letters from that institution. He has since completed monumental bronze commissions for private parties, corporations, churches, and organizations across the country, including Amnesty International, the Crystal Cathedral, the Sedona Synagogue, Rancho Feliz Charitable Group, Free The Slaves organization, Pepsico Corporation, Texas Winery Products, Jacmar Foods, the Honeywell Foundation, Wilden Pump and Engineering, and others. Along with his other works, he has sculpted numerous influential figures including Christ, Steve Biko, Al Stein, Moses, Merlin, Billy Graham, Norman Vincent Peale, Sacajawea, Mark Honeywell, Bill and Vieve Gore, Robert Schuller, Jim Wilden, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, St. Catherine of Siena, Gil Gillenwater, and others.
John became involved with service-work in the military and has since donated a large portion of his time and work to others, focusing on children and women in need. He has worked with domestic abuse shelters, Amnesty International, Free The Slaves, Rancho Feliz, Big brothers, Big Sisters, and many other groups and causes. In the late 90s, John was Knighted by Ulf Hamilton, a Swedish Count, for his service.
John lives and works in the Sedona, Arizona area. His daughters, Heather and Misty, both noted professional sculptors, worked with him on his earlier monuments, then left home to establish their own professional studios and careers. They each began spontaneously sculpting at age one, turned professional at age two, (at their own choice,) and were featured on Paul Harvey News, People Magazine, National Geographic World, That’s Incredible T.V., and other media, and showed their work in galleries in Scottsdale and Houston, all before seven years of age, and all before their father achieved any professional success, whatever.
For more information on John and his world of exciting adventures, please visit https://www.johnsoderberg.com/