Crystal Frye, owner of The EZ Easel, paints a non-traditional picture of success

By Ashley Daniels

“You have to do what you have to do sometimes until you can do what you want to do,” says Crystal Frye, owner of The EZ Easel.

That’s the trajectory her journey toward her artistic entrepreneurship has morphed into over the past 20 years. 

After graduating from Aynor High School in 2003, Frye went on to receive her associate’s degree in business from Horry Georgetown Technical College while simultaneously working at Horry Telephone Cooperative (HTC), where she worked until 2012. After her next stint working for the Horry County Engineering Department and the county’s Clerk of Court’s office, she decided to paint full-time in the summer of 2018.

“I was born very artistic, and when I was little, I loved art and I was very much always painting, drawing, doing all the crafts,” she says. “But at the time, there was really nothing you could do but be an art teacher or something, and I just did not want to do that.”

Frye stopped doing what she loved in high school but picked the hobby back up in 2012 when she hand-painted a stool for her nephew. Soon, she began painting Christmas ornaments as gifts to friends and posted photos of her canvas art on her Facebook page under the business name ABC—Art By Crystal.

In 2015, she crafted a business plan, obtained an LLC, and secured a domain and email for her new business name, The EZ Easel, starting with mobile paint parties, with the first one for her cousin’s kid’s birthday party. Next up, in 2016, Frye met a woman cutting wooden door hangers who sold them to her at wholesale prices. Frye jumped on that trend by hosting door hanger paint parties.

“The catalyst to me going full-time as an artist was basically that I had lost an engagement, my grandmother died, and my family split over money, and I hated my boss at the county – and all of it happened within three months,” says Frye. “I was just absolutely done with that, and I loved painting. … It led to me feeling like I should just do me. I should do what I want to do and live my dream because we won’t be here forever.”

And that is exactly what Frye is doing today with The EZ Easel. She is busy painting outdoor wall murals and window painting for commercial clients, abstract walls for residential and commercial clients, sensory paths, school spirit rocks, custom art projects, and her newer service she’s offering and playing around with: EZ Wallpaper. 

“My style across all of the mediums I provide for my clients is mainly abstract,” says Frye. “I painted my first abstract wall in 2022, and I’ve been known for it ever since. I do a lot of abstract and very whimsical things … It’s like a modern take on Lily Pulitzer.”

The growth of Frye’s business and her clients has been exponentially crazy after a couple of her abstract walls went viral (She has 31K Facebook followers). That, and her client referrals, organically build off one another from her time teaching afterschool art classes for kids, leading to referrals for spirit rocks, more abstract walls, door hangers, and more.

“Over the years, my local clientele has stayed a lot of the same people, parents and kids, which I find is very God-appointed and God-ordained,” she says. “They trust me, they know me. So it has always been a stepping stone to the next big thing. 

“I’ve always pushed the envelope,” continues Frye. “I am more of an entrepreneur than an artist. I mean, true artists are very left-brained and not the business person. And I am very mid-range: business and artist. That’s why I’ve been successful because not only did I know how to paint, but I could also morph with the trends throughout time.”

Frye says she loves what she does now, and there’s never a day when she gets tired of painting. “I am filled with love by my admirers and people constantly telling me that I am inspiring them to create things or to start their own business,” she says. “I have women that have messaged me from other states that follow me on Facebook and say that I have inspired them to step out and do this.”

Frye says she also feels fulfilled by the more time she has been able to spend with her family, thanks to The EZ Easel. She credits her dad, Shelley, as being her biggest helper since 2022.

“I’m making memories with my little family,” says Frye. “I have learned over the years that where I truly lie is in my little group: my mom, my dad, my brother, my sister-in-law, my niece, and my nephew.”

As for her advice to others who may be inspired to follow her inspiring, albeit unconventional, career journey?

“If you really want it bad enough, you will do it,” says Frye. “There is nothing out there that you can’t do. … I encourage people to dream big. If you’re sitting behind a desk or doing something every day that you hate, knowing that you could be doing something different, you’re wasting your time and your talent. And God has given everybody a talent; the world needs what you have.”

For more information or to book a service, visit www.theezeasel.com.