Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority

About the Artist

Robin Brailsford is a Southern California artist with impressive experience in using public art to influence transit systems. Her work is well-known for its stunning visual applications using a variety of media. Some of her projects include: Time & Presence light rail transit art at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Staples Center Metro station; River of Life bus transit mall art in Santa Monica; and Processional Passage street improvement art project for the San Diego Traffic Commission.

Robin received her BFA in Sculpture and Metalsmithing from Syracuse University and her MFA and MA in Sculpture from the University of New Mexico.

Above right, sample Litho-Mosaics created by the artist for the future Irwindale Station

Robin was selected by the city of Irwindale’s Station Design & Art Review (SDAR) Committee, later ratified by the city council, in 2005. In 2005-6, she worked with the SDAR Committee and Irwindale community to advance the design and art concept for the station, and in December 2006 the city council approved the final art concept.*

Artist Concept

Drawing on the city's rich heritage, the artistry of the new station will celebrate and honor the entrepreneurial spirit of the current businesses, citizens and heirs of the original Pioneros de la Rivera de San Gabriel.”

Robin’s vision for the platform involves bold carpets of rustic terrazzo inset with brilliantly colored mosaics (symbolizing the abstract family tree) and an alluvial fan. The names of the early citizens will cast in light and shadow onto the station platform. Using every letter from these names, an original song, or corrido, will be composed based on historical documents and placed into the rustic terrazzo concrete platform. The rustic terrazzo technique exhibited here is one Ms. Brailsford developed exclusively for the Metro Gold Line project, and she now has a patent pending for the process - Litho-Mosaic.

*The Construction Authority would like to thank the following members of the Irwindale Station Design and Art Review Committee (SDAR) for their participation in the selection process: the Honorable Mark Breceda; Ms. Loretta Corpis; Ms. Camille Diaz; Ms. Tonya Pace; and the Honorable Rosemary Ramirez.