More about Brad Martin:

My Medium is Leather and my forte is carving and tooling original works of art. I grew up in North Carolina, my father, from Oklahoma, and my mother from Upper New York State, were huge influences in my continuing education and choice of vocation. I began tooling leather in 1967.

Leather is an extremely versatile medium and through the past 40 years, I’ve done it all. In the 1970’s, I opened a leather shop where I created belts, sandals, bags, repair work, restored antiques, classic cars; anything and everything. Designing and tooling leather was always my strong suit, so in the 80’s and 90’s, I entered and won every major national and international leather competition available. In the early 90’s, I began working with Falconhead Boot Co. in Los Angeles and from then until the present, I design and tool one-of-a-kind cowboy boots for movie starts and other famous people.

Of course, one trip to Taos was enough to se my sights on the Southwest. In 1997, I married the love of my life, Donna and in 2002 moved to Taos to pursue my apparent job in life – to educate and elevate the medium of leather carving to a fine art status. I’ve always happily engaged myself in exhaustive studies of indigenous cultures – Japanese, Chinese, Mayan, Egyptian, and especially Native American – predominately their art forms, lifestyle and religion. For subject matter, I find myself drawn to common connective aspects of life fostered by family and spirituality, the very essence of humanity. This interest is an inending source of art and fascination for me – an ever changing and expanding potential that proves the old adage – “The more you Learn, the more you realize there is to Learn!!”