The Artist Behind Some of Tacoma’s Most Colorful Landmarks

Mauricio Robalino has helped give Tacoma some of its most recognizable splashes of color. His “Alberta’s Window” mosaic celebrates housing advocate Alberta Canada, looking out over the Hilltop neighborhood where she lived. At Eastside Community Center, his 20-foot-tall “Phoenix” sculpture welcomes visitors with a bird-like form inspired by the great blue herons of local wetlands. These are works people can encounter while going about their day, without ever stepping into a gallery.

In a new Weekly Volcano profile by Keelin Everly-Lang, the artist behind those ambitious projects offers a much simpler description of his profession: “I just make things.” His creative range stretches beyond large public installations to drawings, paintings, greeting cards, collages and work in metal and glass. On his own website, Robalino describes an ongoing practice of experimenting and making things that surprise and delight him—a sense of discovery that runs through his colorful work.

Robalino grew up in Quito, Ecuador, and later moved to England and the United States. His career initially pointed toward business school, but he ultimately chose art instead. That decision came with real consequences: as he recounts to the Volcano, his father sent him away with little money and few belongings. The profile follows the resourcefulness and relationships that helped him build a life around the work he wanted to do.

His education became part of that journey. In an alumni profile for Santa Barbara City College, Robalino recalls discovering the school’s art studios during a chance stop in town and enrolling that same day. He later earned a bachelor’s degree at the San Francisco Art Institute and a master’s degree at UC Santa Barbara. Today, the results of that commitment extend across public spaces, schools and community gathering places.

Tacoma residents will have an opportunity to step into his working world during the Tacoma Studio Tour, October 17–18, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Robalino is among the artists opening their studios to the public, offering a chance to connect the finished work with its maker. For the unexpected story of how a civil rights activist with a landmark Supreme Court case helped shape his outlook, read Keelin Everly-Lang’s full profile in the Weekly Volcano.

Mauricio Robalino’s website can be found here.