Bronze Sculptor, John M.Soderberg PhD
“Standing in front of the ovens in Auschwitz at age ten and traveling through Southern India, I witnessed the pain and brutality of humanity; but from that same humanity, I have witnessed also instances of humanity's rare and unearthly beauty, of hope, compassion and faith”.
“One of the most crucial human qualities, I believe, is empathy. Given empathy, brutality becomes impossible. Empathy is at the heart of our humanity, and in fact is the heart of our humanity, for it reduces the barriers of race, religion, and creed to items of mild interest, while unlocking our true, inherent human dignity.
The act of encapsulating empathy in some medium, be it dance or music, painting or sculpture, simple stories or more complex forms, is my definition of art. The feeling and then the sharing of an emotion or idea - which is the essence of art - is what makes us human”.
