For Katy Crim, a love of art fuels her in her professional, creative, and family lives.
KATHERINE “KATY” CRIM HAS MANY ROLES in life, but the arts are at the center of all them. She laughs and says that, when asked “So what is it that you do?” the answer depends on the time of year. While school is in, you may be told she is a proud educator. “If you see me in the summer and you ask what I do,” she says, “I’m an artist.”
Crim’s roles of wife and mother are inextricably intertwined with art, too. Situated on South Chestnut Street in Clarksburg is Art By Crim, the gallery she owns with her photographer husband and biggest fan, Jim. There, people can appreciate the artwork, and they can also have their own work framed.
This interweaving of family and art comes naturally to Crim. “My parents were artists, so we were driving around to all the little craft fairs and I was learning from anyone I could learn from,” she says. “Mom would take classes like watercolor or calligraphy and, when she’d have a homework assignment, I’d sit my little 9-year-old self down right beside her and see exactly what she was doing.” Her own son, likewise, grew up in the studio, keeping her company in “this little playpen, here where I’m sitting right now in my studio office,” and went on to pursue his own path as an artist studying graphic design.
In her work at Robert C. Byrd High School, Crim helms the advanced classes. She especially enjoys working with her Advanced Placement studio art students as they develop their portfolios. “They have to really investigate the topic and research it, explore and experiment and take some risks with visual pieces,” she explains, “and I’m throwing out ideas, and then I come home and start to do them, too. It’s the whole creative process that gets me rejuvenated.” Crim has served as the visual arts planning coordinator of Arts Alive for the West Virginia Department of Education and has won many honors, including West Virginia Art Educator of 2022 through the National Art Education Association.
As a painter, Crim has likewise won numerous awards. The Best of Show award she won at the West Virginia Watercolor Society’s summer 2024 juried exhibition for her piece The Red Boat earned her a spot this spring in the national magazine Watercolor Artist’s Best Paintings of 2024.
In Crim’s current series, she paints notable spots across the state on the corresponding maps. “Maps have always intrigued me,” she says. She’s a collector of maps, and when she paints on them, she carefully places her paintings in the correct places. “I don’t want to get it wrong—whatever images I put on there are from there.” The stunning results of this meticulous work are sure to tug at the heartstrings of those who love West Virginia. katycrim.com
READ MORE ARTICLES FROM WV LIVING’S SUMMER 2025 ISSUE
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