TCU Painting Major Caya Crum Brings Fort Worth’s Western Spirit to the Canvas

Crum sold paintings from her front yard as a child. Her work now appears across Fort Worth, from TCU’s campus to Sundance Square. Photo by Glen E. Ellman

Caya Crum, a senior painting major, stands in her shared studio space in TCU’s Moudy South building, working on her latest composition: a larger-than-life close-up of an intricately tattooed hand on a dark background. Hanging on the wall to her left is a collection of her finished paintings, including a massive canvas depicting a cowboy playing cards with his horse, in captivating shades of pink and teal. Behind her, fresh canvases stand at the ready.  

Just outside her studio space, a design class is busy putting together materials for their projects, but the buzz of activity doesn’t distract her. Crum, who works in acrylics, watercolors and photography, is at home in her artwork. She has been creating it since she was old enough to hold a paintbrush. 

Creative in Cowtown

Creativity came naturally to Crum, who grew up in a family of artists in Fort Worth. Her mother, the founder of Crum Art, creates colorful pieces based on pop culture and Texas iconography, including bluebonnets and boots. Crum’s father is an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker who also makes photo montages featuring signs and landmarks from Texas cities. Her younger sister takes part in the family’s artistic process as a model and muse.

Crum’s early work displayed many core characteristics of her current style, such as her love of horses, cats and the color pink. As a child, she lived across the street from a church that offered parking for TCU football games. Seeing an opportunity to market her work, Crum would set up a table in her front yard and sell her paintings, done on printer paper, to Horned Frog fans passing by.

Many of Crum’s current pieces focus on ranching culture and Southwestern scenery. Her family’s regular visits to Ruidoso, New Mexico, gave her a love for the serene atmosphere of the southern Rocky Mountains, the wide-open landscapes of the semi-arid desert and the work of Georgia O’Keeffe. She also has a love of vivid colors, fantastical compositions and the pop-art movement, with subjects from the Muppets to glam rock artist David Bowie.

Art is not just the family business — it’s Crum’s lifelong passion.

“I don’t think there’s anything else that I’ve discovered yet out there that I’m able to express myself so easily through,” she said.

During high school, Crum entered and won several art contests, including Imagine No Violence, a juried competition held by One Safe Place, a nonprofit that supports shelters for abused women and children. Her winning piece, “You Are Safe, You Are Loved,” is a portrait of Crum and her sister embracing.

The city itself has also become her canvas. Some of Crum’s first major commissions include murals for the Bearded Lady restaurant, a gastropub on Fort Worth’s Near Southside, and for the Welman Project, a nonprofit that collects surplus supplies and distributes them to educators. While the Welman Project moved locations in April 2026, Crum’s mural of a woman lying beneath a rainfall of fried eggs remains a public art piece.

“Once we learned more about Caya and started following her Instagram, we were like, ‘whoa, this girl is vibrant’,” said Vanessa Barker, co-founder and creative director for the Welman Project. “She just had a fun perspective on the world, and I wanted to showcase that.”

Painted Purple

Crum’s “You Are Safe, You Are Loved” won One Safe Place’s Imagine No Violence competition. Courtesy of Caya Crum

Crum spent a summer during high school at an art intensive at New York University, but she knew she wouldn’t move away from Texas long term.

“I just felt like even back then, a lot of my art was reflective of where I’ve grown up and reflective of my family,” Crum said. “I paint a lot of Western scenes, and something felt kind of missing to be painting them in a big city.”

She found the perfect university fit in her own neighborhood.

“I’ve lived right next door to TCU my whole life, but I’d never been in the art building,” Crum said. “I did a walkthrough. It was one of those moments where I was like, I can’t be anywhere else. I felt so at home. I love the professors, and I think the facility is top tier.”

Crum has spent her time at TCU honing her artistic ability and growing as a young professional. She has learned tips and tricks, she said, that have leveled up her work in subtle ways. The exploratory structure of TCU’s art program has allowed her to focus on her own style and development while benefiting from constructive criticism. The program has also provided hands-on experience with pricing and selling artwork.

“She has not only the baseline understanding of how that type of art business can work,” said Adam Fung, professor of art, faculty adviser and Crum’s mentor, “but she also has the drive and is creating a distinct body of work, which is unusual for our undergraduate students.” 

Fung noted that she leads her peers by example. “She doesn’t take on traditional leadership roles … but she’s always participating,” Fung said. “She doesn’t want to be the loudest voice in the room. She wants her work to speak for her. She is so encouraging to other students.” 

Fung added that Crum’s quiet leadership doesn’t just pertain to the art studio. During a study abroad program in Florence, Italy, Fung regularly went for solo runs. Crum, a runner herself (she’s president of the TCU Co-ed Running Club and has run half marathons), spoke with Fung about having students join his jaunts through the Tuscan city — and they did. 

“I don’t think there’s anything else that I’ve discovered yet out there that I’m able to express myself so easily through.”
Caya Crum

On campus, Crum collaborated with other art students on the Race and Reconciliation Initiative’s “150 Connections” mural, honoring notable Black alumni, faculty and staff. The work was installed in the TCU Intellectual Commons from 2024 to 2025. 

Crum has never stopped creating art — hundreds of pieces over the course of her 21 years — for her own enjoyment and satisfaction. She also uses her art to support nonprofits, donating work to auctions benefiting A Wish With Wings, a wish-granting organization for Texas children with life-threatening medical issues, and the Junior League of Fort Worth, which supports education, children and families.

Art, for Crum, is a vital part of life.

“I think no matter who you are and what your career is, what your interests are,” she said, “I think there’s an outlet for you to be creative.”