Chris Robinson Is Turning Cultural Memory into Public Art

Long before Chris Robinson was designing commemorative logos or winning flag commissions, he was a boy on the east side of Austin, sitting cross-legged in front of the television with a coloring book, copying whatever the man on the PBS art show was drawing.

That early ritual grew into something much larger. Today, Robinson, a Houston-based illustrator, graphic designer, design strategist, and public artist, has built a career around the mission to tell Black stories authentically and joyfully through visual art.

His work spans large-scale public installations, brand strategy, national collaborations, and civic commissions, including the official 161st Juneteenth Houston commemorative logo and, most recently, the winning design for the Texas-based Juneteenth flag, announced at the 5th Annual Celebrate Freedom Festival at Emancipation Park in June 2026.

Robinson grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood on the east side of Austin, a community he says carries deep similarities to Houston’s Third Ward. His mother, recognizing his gift early, funded his first tattooing equipment in high school.

He arrived in Houston in 2009 to attend the University of Houston, initially pursuing architecture before advisers redirected him to the School of Art. He had never heard the term “graphic designer” used as a job title. He was also playing football. He went in, by his own account, blind, and stayed anyway, grinding through courses alongside students who had been trained in liberal arts programs for years.

“One of my skills is that I am extremely hard-headed,” Robinson said. “When I find an opportunity and feel like it’s something I can do, I’m going to keep doing it until I get good at it.”

After graduating, Robinson moved through an unlikely range of employers, megachurches, nonprofits, the Houston Grand Opera, and television networks, gathering what he calls “intel” at every stop. In 2020, during the pandemic, he decided that his niche would be telling Black stories authentically.

“I’m purposefully trying to always articulate what the story looks like other than sorrow and sadness,” Robinson said. “We’re not monolithic. We’re Black in rock and roll, we’re Black farmers, we’re so many other things. I take us as a hue and present us to the world the way I see us on a day-to-day basis.”

That philosophy was on full display when Robinson was selected to design the 161st Juneteenth Houston commemorative logo, a commission he had applied for in previous years without success. The final design incorporates the Galveston Oleander flower, palm leaves, African patterns, and two and a half stars representing the delay in Texas’s freedom. Robinson wanted it to feel like a homecoming shirt, something wearable and celebratory beyond a single day on the calendar.

“I wanted it to feel retro,” he said. “I wanted it to be uniquely us and uniquely celebratory. That’s that thing that triggers you, something familiar. When you see it, you’re like, I like that, but I don’t know why.”

His mentor, Reuben Levi, has watched Robinson develop since the early days of his career and sees that intentionality as the defining thread. The two first connected years ago at a shared workplace, when Robinson casually mentioned he was interested in design. His mentor, also an illustrator, did not take him seriously at first, until Robinson started referencing industry designers by name and demonstrating a working knowledge of their craft.

“He dives into the essence of things and finds a way to bring out parts of them and join things together,” Levi said. “He has a genuine heart. Someone who genuinely loves this and loves people. You don’t find too many of those in life.”

Black designers represent a small fraction of the graphic design industry, a reality that makes community mentorship all the more critical. Among the early guidance he gave Robinson was to connect with organizations like AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts), build relationships across disciplines, and understand that reputation is built on consistency and delivery.

“It’s hard to survive out here just as a Black designer,” Levi said. “If we see someone else who wants to do this on the journey, and they actually have some skills and a love for it, of course, you’re going to help them.”

Robinson has his own philosophy on sustainability in the arts, one he also brings into his classroom. He is an adjunct professor at San Jacinto College South, where he teaches graphic design and digital marketing. When students raise the subject of artificial intelligence, he does not frame it as a threat.

Robinson has worked with Adobe, BET, the Houston Grand Opera, Downtown Houston, and Texas Southern University’s John Biggers exhibition through curator Seba Suber. He is a 2021 Adobe Artist Development Fund commission recipient, having produced more than 500 illustrations focused on Black family life. Through it all, Houston has had his back.

“Anything that I’ve always wanted to do here, I’ve been able to eventually do it,” Robinson said. “And the main thing I find is just not giving up. As long as you don’t give up, you’ll never fail at what you want to do.”

Based on reporting by Houston Defender.

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