John
Soderberg
C a pt u r in g emp a thy f o r the a g es
I nte r v iew b y D a wn S h a tt u c k
For the first 18 years of his life, John Soderberg
lived in several Central and Southeast Asian
countries and visited over 60 others around the
world. His exposure to different cultures, art and
artists was extraordinary. From those experi-
ences, his appreciation of the works of many
great artists played a foundational role in the
detail and quality of his own sculptural work.
While John trained in several different art me-
diums during his early years, sculpting became
his raison d’etre. Sculpting clay to bronze for the
past forty years, John has created magnificent
works of art, sculpted many notable figures,
installed bronze monuments in the US and
internationally, perfected his own oil-based clay
now used worldwide, created many sculpting
techniques, and developed numerous sculpt-
ing tools. He shares his vast knowledge with
students and protégés so that sculpting may
continue to evolve, relaying important cultural
stories for generations to come. John utilizes his
sculpture to create awareness around human
issues by telling critical stories and by assisting
nonprofit charities to support those in need.
IMAGINE: What experiences and
thoughts have shaped the artist you
are today?
John: I had a unique childhood—
exposed to people, cultures, and
religions all over the world. I went to
16 IMAGINE l Fall 2018
high school in Bangkok with students
from 97 different countries. I learned
to see people for who they were as
individuals and empathize with them
as human beings.
I believe that many of society’s
ills are caused by lack of awareness,
empathy, experience, or exposure to
the world. But in my opinion, given
enough empathy, brutality becomes
impossible. An artist’s true mission
then, is to tell stories, to inspire or
enrage, to encourage people to feel,
to have empathy, to help people see
things differently...to evolve.
IMAGINE: Did your activism spring
from experiences with your family or
from other events in your life?
John: Both. My parents made sure
that we experienced the wide range
of humanity. We traveled around the
world eight times. I went to schools all
over the world. When I was five or six,
we visited concentration camps. Stand-
ing in front of the ovens, I asked my
mother why some people would hurt
and burn other people. She tried to an-
swer, but I was unsatisfied. I met starv-
ing kids in Calcutta’s “City of Joy,” one
of the world’s poorest places back then.
We met fathers there who promised to
sell their own skeletons after death to
pay for their daughter’s dowry.
IMAGINE: Were you an activist first
or an artist?
John: One needs to be aware of hu-
man misery, inequality and injustice
to grow one’s empathy and compas-
sion. From a young age I experienced
first hand people with leprosy lying
on the streets, people dying from
lack of thirst, the ultra poor, the ultra
wealthy, and everything in between.
I believe one must be a collector of
experiences first. Then, in my case,
the artist and, hopefully later, an ac-
tivist using art as a medium to create
awareness and catalyze action.
I started painting in oils at the age
of four in Afghanistan. I sculpted in
clay at five in India and studied teak-
wood carving in Thailand at twelve. I
was exposed to great art and artists all
over the world from the time I could
walk. These experiences developed
my understanding that good and hon-
est artists tell a story with each work
they create, perhaps leading others to
see things differently, and motivating
them to get off their ass and do some-
thing. That’s the activism part.
IMAGINE: What social issues are you
naturally drawn to?
John: I have immersed myself in
service work for over 40 years. All
social justice issues are important to
me. Any human misery is critical—
injustice, inequality, any unfairness,
anyone who’s persecuted. Slavery
is the base issue. Nothing else mat-
ters if a person is not free and cannot
guide their destiny. There are more
enslaved people now than ever before
in human history—something like 30
million or more.
I worked closely with an anti-
slavery group in Los Angeles. They
developed the Freedom Award given