Rowena Bradley

Rowena Bradley (1922–2003) was an Eastern Band Cherokee basket maker from the United States. Bradley's work has been exhibited at Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual in Cherokee, North Carolina.

Early life and education Rowena Bradley was born in 1922 to Nancy George Bradley and Henry Bradley, and was the youngest of eight children. She grew up on the Painttown community's Swimmer Branch on the Qualla Boundary. She is listed on the Baker Roll.

Rowena created her first basket at the age of six. She quartered, peeled, and scraped the rivercane with a pocketknife. The dye materials she used were derived from local bark and roots such as butternut, black walnut and bloodroot.

Journalist John Parris described the process Bradley used in weaving, "working from memory, she forms the strips into patterns and then into baskets of all shapes and sizes. Early in the process of a double-weave pattern, literally scores of withes seem to fly out in all directions." Bradley devised new types of baskets, including a Purse Basket for sales to tourists. The exhibition was partially funded by the North Carolina Arts Council and the Indian Arts and Crafts Board. She was recognized as "one of the foremost masters of rivercane basketry and one [of] the most talented, creative basketmakers in the United States." Stephen Richmond wrote that Bradley's work was a "new dimension of technical and aesthetic achievement."