Caya Crum is a Fort Worth artist known for bold, modern Texas art: cowboys, cats, horses and Texas icons in saturated color and pop-western style. She sees the magic, beauty and humor in the world, and knows its sadness and loneliness too. She puts her work out there to make the world a more joyful, colorful and connected place.
How she started
She has been selling her art since kindergarten, when she set up in her family's front yard to sell paintings to fans parking and walking to TCU games. She did remarkably well, and she never stopped. Two decades later the front yard has become a Fort Worth studio, a booth at the state's best-loved art shows, and walls around the city.
Where she's going
Caya is finishing her studio art degree at TCU's College of Fine Arts and growing three things at once: original paintings, murals and public art, and live event painting. Her work has already been licensed for television and collected from Round Top to Austin to San Antonio, and she painted a soccer ball for Sundance Square's FIFA World Cup initiative. Next up: more murals, more new paintings, and a full show calendar (see upcoming events).
Favorite places
A devoted world traveler, Caya's favorite places include Hobart, Tasmania, home to MONA, her favorite museum in the world; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Glastonbury, England, the legendary Avalon of Arthurian myth. And Fort Worth, always.
TCU connections
Caya is a third-generation TCU family member, following her grandparents and great-grandparents to the university, where her great-grandparents first met. She studied at NYU's Summer Arts Intensive, completed a TCU study-abroad program in Florence, and has traveled on TCU-sponsored art study trips to New York, Chicago and Santa Fe. She created the artwork for TCU's 2024 Homecoming, has held solo exhibitions at TCU's Moudy Gallery in the School of Art, has painted for the TCU Alumni Association, shows every year at the Horned Frog Holiday Market, and is president of the TCU Run Club.
Inspiration
Mary Beard, obscure documentaries, the old films of Pathé, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the music of Brian Eno, the Cocteau Twins, David Bowie, Angelo Badalamenti and Jeff Buckley. And her life as a Texan.
Off the easel
An avid runner, she logs five to seven miles a day and leads the TCU Run Club. She is a concert-goer first and a sleeper second: this fall she has tickets for Morrissey at Dickies Arena (October 29) and Rufus Wainwright at the Texas Theatre in Dallas (November 14).
Shop Caya Crum prints → Original paintings for sale →
Featured works
Follow Caya on Instagram @heyitscaya and Facebook @caya.crum · See her original paintings and her workshops at Crum Art.
Every Crum Art print is hand-signed by the artist. More on how our prints are made →