Robert A. Crum was born in Pekin, Illinois and began drawing and painting at a young age. His Bachelor of Arts is from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

After living in Illinois, Ohio, and Iowa, Robert moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1989. In 1993, he was awarded an Emerging Artist Grant by the North Carolina Arts Council, a state agency, and the Arts & Science Council-Charlotte/Mecklenburg, Inc. In 2002, Mr. Crum moved his studio and home to downtown historic Salisbury, North Carolina.

He is a full-time professional oil painter and muralist. In his studio, he completes still lifes,  portraits and figurative work using the same materials and methods utilized by the Masters for centuries. En plein-air landscape paintings are completed wherever he travels, and larger landscapes are developed and completed from these in his studio. Robert has studied under numerous artists including landscape painting with Tony Griffin in the North Carolina mountains and still life painting with Charles Kapsner of Little Falls, Minnesota.

Mr. Crum learned to work on a large scale by studying drawing, painting and fresco under master fresco painter Ben Long, and he assisted Mr. Long on four of his North Carolina frescoes. He has also studied the art of mosaics under a number of American and Italian artists both in the United States and in Rome, Italy.

In 2005, Mr. Crum was commissioned to complete a 110 foot long outdoor mosaic mural in downtown Salisbury, and it was paid for, in part, by a private foundation.  In 2006 and 2007, he completed two mosaic murals, a mosaic altar, and a mosaic baptismal font in the Episcopal Church of St. Philip and St. James in San Jose, Costa Rica. In 2007, Robert spent five months completing a 7 foot by 51 foot mosaic mural in The Ashworth, which is a 19 story building located on the Atlantic Ocean in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In 2007, he also worked with a group of artists in Phoenix, Arizona to complete five mosaic panels that were installed on a downtown building. In March 2008, he completed a 12 foot diameter black and white marble mosaic which was installed at Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. 

Robert is a member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists, the British Association of Modern Mosaic, the International Guild of Realism and Oil Painters of America. He frequently travels internationally to draw, paint and study. His work can be found in numerous private and corporate collections both nationwide and internationally.