(1948 - )
Bradford began carving and painting in 1989, after working in the woods, and as a labourer and house painter. He is well known for his carvings of peacocks, roosters, seagulls, bears and small to life-size human figures, and the red and black checkerboard frames on his paintings. He has also carved mermaids, deer, bobcats and a number of other animals.
Bradford Naugler's work includes a commission for the Confederation Gallery in Prince Edward Island, for whom he did life sized carvings of the ten fathers of confederation. He is featured in the 1994 National Film Board production, "Folk Art Found Me", and has also been featured in a number of television shows. His work toured the British Isles as part of the Canadian Cultural Heritage Exhibition (1989) and is included in the collection of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and in collections throughout North America and Europe. His six foot carved "Black Bear" was donated to the Canadiana Fund, and is now located at the official residence in Ottawa.
Bradford has participated in all of the Nova Scotia Folk Art Society festivals, and the 1992 festival poster featured one of Bradford's well known carved roosters. Bradford's artwork has twice been featured on the poster for the Nova Scotia Folk Art Festival.
Bradford Naugler's "No Break Down" fiddling Mountie in the image is over 6 feet tall. Bradford made the Mountie in 1999 because of the turn of the century concerns that computers wouldn't make the changeover, and everything would break down. The Mountie was part of the Folk Art Society of Nova Scotia pop-up Exhibition of Folk Art in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia from July 14th to August 11th, 2024. It was the second year for the pop-up exhibition and they got great reviews and it was well attended. The Mountie has returned to the gallery and it is now available for $4,500.
References: Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Folk Art - Canada's Cultural Heritage (1989); Nova Scotia Folk Art Society, A Joyous Vision (1995); Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, A Life of Its Own (1997); Blake McKendry, An Illustrated Companion to Canadian Folk Art (1999); Bernard Riordon (Beaverbrook Gallery), Canadian Folk Art from the Collection of Susan A. Murray (2007); Ray Cronin, Nova Scotia Folk Art: An Illustrated Guide (2024).
