Why Oak Creek Indian Art?

My name is Scott Bradley and I have been coming to Oak Creek Canyon in Sedona, Arizona since my childhood in the early ’60s. My dad, who was an architect, built a house in Sedona where we spent many happy days and built many happy memories. Later, after moving to Illinois, my own family would often visit and our kids were able to experience the same magic of Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon as I did when I was growing up. Several years after my father passed away, my wife, Marilyn, and I purchased the house he designed and built-in Sedona, and now we make our permanent residence there. The area continues to be a special place to build family memories with children and grandchildren. Sedona—and in particular Oak Creek Canyon— is a land of incredible beauty and points to an awesome God who created it.

The view from our backyard in Sedona.

I have been a collector and lover of American Indian Art for over 50 years. After acquiring two little Fannie Nampeyo jars from a neighbor in Sedona and then taking my first trip to the Hopi mesas where we were invited to have mutton stew with a Hopi family and watch the Home Dance, I was hooked.

When choosing a name for my venture, it seemed only fitting to incorporate two things that have special significance and were linked not only geographically, but emotionally—Oak Creek and Indian Art.

So, welcome to our online gallery. I want to share my passion for antique Indian art with you. I invite you to browse our gallery and contact me to discuss any item that interests you. I think you will discover that many of the items you see are of unusual quality, condition and value. We guarantee the authenticity of every item in our gallery.

The following recollections will likely be boring to you—like watching someone else’s home movies—but it brings a smile to my face as I remember the joys of the Canyon, collecting Indian art and artifacts, and the wonderful people who have enriched my life. A special thanks and love to my wife, Marilyn. Without her love, support, encouragement it wouldn’t be possible. When the box arrives, she says, “so let me see it…I like it…I want to keep that one.”

So here are some memories of my experiences collecting through the years.

I remember…

  • My first Navajo rug purchase at an estate sale in LaGrange, IL. 40+ years ago, then the “beater” rugs at the auction in Naperville shortly thereafter.

  • Many trips purchasing Hopi pottery to bring back to galleries in Chicago where I traded and sold on consignment. I remember making the trek to Polacca one snowy, cold Christmas holiday to visit Dextra Quotskuyva. She rewarded me by handing me a 17” absolutely incredible fine line migration design olla and saying, “Merry Christmas!” (sadly for her and wonderfully for me – it had broken during firing. She had repaired it, but couldn’t sell it as new).

  • Trading Dextra pottery with Marti Cusack (Martha Struever) at the Indian Tree Gallery in Chicago.

  • The “Antique Navajo Rugs” estate sale in Warrenville.

  • Stringing dried peppers with Pauline Setalla at the end of Antelope Mesa, and then the time I was greeted with, “Quick! Come quick! The lambs are being born!”

  • Pauline asking me to take her to the grocery store at Keams Canyon and as we passed the meat counter she turned and said, “Do you remember that large wedding vase on my top shelf?”

  • Visiting with Fannie Nampeyo at her home in Polacca and Joy Navasie (Frog Woman) at her home on Antelope Mesa.

  • Being Justin Setalla’s guest as he took us to see Awatovi ruin.

  • Purchasing a beautiful little Casas Grandes effigy olla (a real one) from Bob Ward’s Trading Post in Sedona in the mid 1970’s for $125, and selling it almost twenty years later at an auction in Chicago for $35. That was a learning experience.

  • Taking two suit cases of old Navajo rugs into the Rug Room at Hubbell’s Trading Post, meeting Bill Malone and then leaving without the rugs! I am grateful for the multi-year business relationship with Bill Malone and HTP.

  • The friendly ladies at Walpi, Hano and Sichomovi calling out “Potteries” and inviting me to come in as I walked past their door. They had beautiful Hopi pottery.

  • Praying with Pauline Setalla at her home on Antelope Mesa over a Fritos and Kool-Aid lunch.

  • Visiting Thomas Polacca (son of Fannie Nampeyo) at his home in Tuba City in 1974—the first year he began to sell pottery—and purchasing six dated and signed pieces. You won’t find any earlier and these all in his earliest, traditional Hopi style.

  • Visiting Rose Gonzales at San Ildefonso, and her taking pity on this poor college student who loved her pottery. I paid $11 for a beautiful little gun-metal black jar.

  • And I can never forget Mr. Stamper and the Red Rock Shop in Sedona. After greeting Mom and Dad, my first stop was the Red Rock Shop and Mr. Stamper looking for new additions of artifacts and / or prehistoric pottery.

  • The wonderful gift of the little Elizabeth White water olla from my friend Mudge who purchased it from Elizabeth White at the All Indian Pow Wow in Flagstaff in the early 1960’s.

  • And finally, the times with Ruth and George Kerr reminiscing of trips and people, Hopi pottery and Hopi baskets.

View of Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona AZ

Oak Creek Canyon after a fresh dusting of snow.