Bradford Naugler: The Guardian of Nova Scotia's Folk Art Soul
By Pierre Martin
Sometimes it takes a seven-hour drive to understand why a work of art stays with you. That’s what I did, more than once, to reach Middlewood a quiet hamlet on Nova Scotia’s South Shore and sit down with Bradford Naugler in his studio on Hirtle Road. What I found there goes well beyond wood carving: it’s an encounter with a particular way of being in the world.
A Man Shaped by Manual Work
Born in 1948, Bradford Naugler spent years working as a logger and house painter before turning seriously to sculpture in 1989. He comes from an artistic family his brothers Leo and Ransford share the same sensibility but Bradford has established himself as the central figure of that lineage.
His style is immediately recognizable: animals carved in pine bears, deer, roosters painted in bold colours often decorated with his signature red-and-black checkered motif. Simple on the surface, but charged with a rare narrative energy.
Bradford Naugler
The Studio, First
The first time I visited, I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I got was an hour of conversation with Bradford and his son Craig, himself a sculptor before a single piece of inventory was brought out. No staging, no sterile gallery setting. Just three men, their wood, and a hospitality that has nothing to prove.
That human dimension is what sets Naugler’s work apart from so much else. Buying one of his roosters or bears isn’t a transaction; it’s the continuation of a relationship. And that relationship, for me, has been built over tim through return visits that feel as much like pilgrimages as they do like errands.
National and International Recognition
Bradford Naugler’s importance isn’t measured only by word of mouth among collectors. Institutions have long recognized the reach of his work.
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia holds several of his signature pieces, including sculptural depictions of the Obama family and members of the British Royal Family.
The Confederation Centre of the Arts in Prince Edward Island commissioned him to carve the ten Fathers of Confederation a significant institutional endorsement.
The Canadiana Foundation in Ottawa holds a six-foot black bear by Bradford as part of the official collection housed in Canada’s official residences.
As early as 1989, his work was crossing the Atlantic: the South Shore Folk Art exhibition, presented at Canada House in London, gave him his first international platform.
The Camera as Witness
Documentary film has managed to capture what words sometimes struggle to convey. In 1993, the National Film Board of Canada placed him at the centre of Folk Art Found Me, directed by Alex Busby a film that follows the artist through his daily life and explores his creative philosophy.
CBC Land & Sea has also featured him in reporting on Nova Scotia’s artistic traditions. The Bazart series dedicated a full episode to his work environment and the storytelling dimension of his painted wood pieces.
Why It Matters
There’s a temptation, when discussing folk art, to folklorize it to keep it tucked away in a picturesque but peripheral corner. Bradford Naugler resists that. His work isn’t regional curiosity; it’s the testimony of a visual intelligence deeply rooted in a place, a time, and a way of living.
To own one of his roosters is to accept that a conversation has taken place between him, the wood, and you. And if you’ve had the chance, as I have, to make that long drive to Middlewood, you know the conversation started long before you held the piece in your hands.