Brian Crawford was born on September 11, 1967 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. During his early childhood, his parents encouraged him to freely express himself through art. He quickly became captivated with drawing, and could always be found with pencil and paper in hand. It was this early exposure to art that became the foundation for his future.

Throughout his schooling, art was always his favorite subject. He dreamed of eventually going to art school to be formally trained in drawing and painting, but his dreams of creating art were temporarily put on hold as he decided to enter college to explore the world of computer programming. In May of 1990, he received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems, and for the next several years his focus turned solely to his career as a software engineer. During this time, he allowed his desire to create art to go dormant.

Nothing Can Separate, 36" x 24"
Acrylic on Canvas, 2014

It wasn't until after his marriage in July of 2000 that Brian began to seriously think about creating art again. At the urging of his wife, he answered the call that had started to burn in his heart. He immediately enrolled in a painting class. That initial class fueled his desire to create, and he continued to take painting and drawing classes to further feed this desire. With each class that he completed his skill & confidence increased as did his desire to paint.

In 2005, Brian had the unique opportunity of returning to school full-time to begin completing the art degree of which he had dreamed so long ago. While at CCCCD and UNT, he fully immersed himself in the arts culture and learned from artists such as Matthew Bourbon, Rob Erdle, Merry Fuhrer and Carter Skaggs.

Today, Brian continues to work as a software engineer, but it is when he is creating works of art that his heart truly comes alive.

Brian's paintings are a vibrant mix of earthy colors that reference motifs such as koi fish and scripture. His hope is that the viewer will visually enjoy the piece, but walk away from it contemplating the underlying themes.

Since returning to the art world, Brian has become actively involved with the art community in Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas. He received third place in the Deep Ellum Mural Competitions of 2007 and 2008, and was heavily involved in the Deep Ellum Mural Project of 2009. In addition to his murals, his paintings can also be seen from time to time at Kettle Art in Deep Ellum.

Into the Tempest 2, 24" x 18"
Acrylic on Canvas, 2014