“Cranium” is what artist Robin Brailsford calls the fruit packing shed she is lucky enough to have as a think tank situated at a 20,000-acre ecological preserve in Southern California. For her, Cranium is a bigger-than-life size sugar skull, a brain, a Neanderthal cave. While creating there, she can use no electricity, light no flame, make no noise or propose anything for sale (“No Capitalism”). The building provides free access for rats, bats, owls, and humankind, as one of the preserve’s stipulations is that the doors can never be closed or locked. There is a loading dock for reading, and for further inspiration, flocks of mud daubers as well as horses, cowboys, and 500 black cattle in the endless borrowed landscape.  

 

She arranges an installation throughout the space about every ten days, which she photographs extensively and then disassembles.  She works only with the weathered materials at hand - mirrors, steel, concrete, glass, prisms, weeds, water, wood.  All tethered by gravity - the installations chart and are animated by sunlight as it arches over and through the galvanized metal building. 

 

This book highlights work created there between the winter 2020 and summer 2021 solstices. Known primarily for her public artworks, LithoMosaics, and jewelry ~ this is her first photographic work ~ as a photographic work, per se.   She says, “After every photoshoot, I am astounded by what I have achieved.” 

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Book available for purchase. Checks welcome. $27.00 includes shipping and taxes. Email us at robinbrailsford@yahoo.com to purchase.