ART | bruce brady
B RADY ’ S B RONZES
B TEXT BY ROBYN JACKSON
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF AMANDA WARREN, ABLES ANTIQUES
Brookhaven sculptor Bruce Brady
died 10 years ago, on Feb. 8, 2000,
but demand for his limited edition
bronzes - and their value - just
keeps increasing.
His widow, Peggy Pierce, said
she gets calls from collectors who
are willing to pay any price for one
of Brady’s early pieces, but the col-
lectors who own them aren’t willing
to sell.
“A lot of the early pieces are sold
out,” Pierce said. “That’s the beauty
of having a limited edition, it makes
them more valuable. A Brady
bronze is a good investment.”
34 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
10 years after Bruce Brady’s death,
the Brookhaven artist’s sculptures
are more in demand than ever
To learn more about Bruce Brady’s limited
edition sculptures, go to www.bradybronze.com, or
call Ables Antiques at (601) 833-3555.
Brady, an avid hunter, outdoors-
man and writer, began sculpting as
a lark, around 1980. The youth
group at First Baptist Church of
Brookhaven was having a fundrais-
er to support a mission trip and son
Bruce Brady Jr., who was taking a
college pottery class, handed his
father a lump of clay and told him
he should sculpt something to sell
at the auction. And even though
Brady had never sculpted anything,
opener and a pocket knife and mod-
eled this big horn sheep,” Pierce
recalled. The piece sold for $350.
“We were amazed it would go for
that, but it was a very nice piece.”
Brady was an editor for Outdoor
Life magazine, and on a trip out
West for the magazine, the couple
visited galleries in Santa Fe, where
he was intrigued by the bronze
sculptures he saw there. They
looked in the phone book and called
he decided to do it, using a trophy a foundry. The owner, Dell Weston,
head hanging on his wall as the gave them a tour and showed them
model. a casting. Weston gave him some
“Bruce sat there with a letter sculpting materials and Brady went
home and sculpted a running bull elk.
“It was absolutely beautiful,” Pierce said. “That
summer, we took it back to the foundry and had it cast
just for us.”
Others soon began asking if they could buy a repro-
duction, so Brady created his first limited edition.
“The next thing we knew, we were well into the
bronze business,” Pierce said.
Brady’s subject matter ranged from bird dogs and
wild turkeys to busts of American leaders and writers,
including Mark Twain and William Faulkner. He creat-
ed 75 limited or open edition pieces, as well as several
one-of-a-kind editions. One of his bison sculptures,
“Tatanka,” is in the art collection of the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library, and his bust of Theodore
Roosevelt was purchased by the U.S. Senate as a retire-
ment gift for Sen. Robert Dole.
Brady was twice named Wildlife Artist of the Year
by the Mississippi Wildlife Federation, and his pieces
are in the collections of museums, corporations and
private collectors across the country. He also sculpted
the Conerly Trophy, presented each year by Cellular
South and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame to the
outstanding college football player in the state. The
original Conerly Trophy is on display at the Hall of
Fame in Jackson.
“He was so talented, and to just pick this up at mid-
dle age is amazing,” said Amanda Warren, owner of
Ables Antiques in Brookhaven, one of the few places
where you can still buy Brady’s limited editions, many
of which are just about sold out. Prices range from
around $100 for a feather that is part of an open edi-
tion, to $15,500 for a mountain man sculpture called
“The Far Horizon.”
“A lot of women buy them as gifts for their hus-
bands, but we have quite a few men who are collectors
and buy them for themselves,” Warren said. “Animals
are what tend to sell better.”
Brady had already given up a successful career as
an attorney in Brookhaven to accept a job as a field
editor for Outdoor Life magazine, after writing as a
freelancer for years, when he decided to become a full-
time sculptor, but his wife once again supported him
whole-heartedly.
“He had three successful careers,” Pierce said.
“When he gave up the law practice, that was a major
step. But I knew he really loved to write when he
made the decision. He was on staff for Outdoor Life
for 32 years when he passed away.”
The Bradys had three children - all of whom still
live in Brookhaven - along with 13 grandchildren and
one great-grandson. Peggy Brady remarried a few
years ago and now lives in Huntsville, Ala. She and
Jim Pierce, whom she had gone to high school with,
met again at their 48th class reunion.
“He has the greatest respect and appreciation for
Bruce, which makes me love him even more,” Pierce
said.
She is very proud that her late husband left such a
beautiful legacy, and that a decade after his death, he
has not been forgotten.
“For me, it was such a special blessing to watch him
work. He loved it. He was compelled to do it,” Pierce
said. “It was just a God-given talent.”
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