Robin Strayhorn is a visual artist working in painting, mixed media and ceramics. She is also an accomplished public artist with both large and small scale ceramic tile mosiac artworks in the collections of the City of Los Angeles/Cultural Affairs Department and Los Angeles Metro.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, she was blessed with a childhood immersed in creativity, inspired by innovative parents; her profoundly talented artist Mother and superbly gifted & musical Father. She began drawing as a youngster, developing her creative vocabulary at the early age of 8. After immersion in an art curriculum during high school, Strayhorn migrated first to New York where she absorbed the city's immense & diverse cultural landscapes. She later settled in Los Angeles, where the Southern California cultural mix introduced Strayhorn to a new world of creative expression. 

While studying Political Science at UCLA, she continually studied art and cultivated her innate artistic passion & talent. During her years at UCLA, a dear friend who introduced her to the artist Varnette Honeywood, who soon became her treasured mentor. After graduating from UCLA, she could no longer ignore the impulse to make art her focal point. While teaching at Los Angeles public schools by day, at night, she began to paint and started exhibiting her oils, pencil drawings, acrylics and watercolors. In 1994, Ms. Honeywood introduced Strayhorn to printmaking and monoprinting became another favorite medium. 

Through acrylic, oil, watercolor, printmaking, ceramics and collage, Strayhorn reveals the vitality of her imagination. Strayhorn's signature is color, vibrant and animated. A mystic broker of contrasting elements, Strayhorn skillfully mediates the uneasy alliance of colors of disparate character and challenges the distinction between figurative and the abstract. 

She began exhibiting her works in 1992 and commenced her first Public Art commission in 1997 with a Terrazzo floor design, as well as an 11 x 18 ft tile mural at Ontario International Airport. She soon left teaching and began to work as a full- time artist. Having completed her first public art project in ceramic tile, she excitedly began to explore and utilize ceramic tile in subsequent public commissions. In 2002, she teamed up with fellow artist Michael Massenburg to create ceramic tile benches honoring the life of Rosa Parks at the MTA Rosa Parks Blue Line Station in Los Angeles. Since then, she has been commissioned for projects on her own including: Ted Watkins Memorial Park; the Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Public Library and Central Avenue Jazz Park which included local high school students to assist with glazing tiles for the mural. In addition to working in the public art arena, Robin teaches art and has received numerous awards from the City of Los Angeles and has been featured in various publications.