Whether on the street, in intimate galleries, or at blockbuster exhibits, Columbia is a canvas for creativity

Every Saturday morning, as the sunrise spills over Main Street in Columbia, South Carolina, the Soda City Market awakens with the hum of two hundred vendors. The scent of just-picked tomatoes from Gavin Ward’s Burcalo Creek Farms mingles with the earthy richness of plant-based iced matcha lattes from Frances Lee’s Gorilla Boost Co., while the warmth of freshly fried pastelitos from Mario Canelón and Adriana García’s MCBO SC Venezuelan Food drifts through the air. Somewhere in this welcoming tableau of faces and fragrances you’ll likely find Trahern Cook—better known as Easel Cathedral—capturing the magic, one brushstroke at a time.

A Columbia native, Cook is a fixture at Soda City Market, though he’s not browsing for goods, but for inspiration. With his easel set up amid the bustle, the live painter captures the city’s ever-changing atmosphere in vivid strokes of color. “Columbia has a way of serving up moments worth painting,” he says. Trained at the Rhode Island School of Design and a graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design, Cook is adept at distilling the movement, architecture, and spirit of the market into compositions. But his paintings serve as more than snapshots—they reflect a broader momentum propelling Columbia’s arts community. “There is an incredible DIY spirit in Columbia,” Cook says. “If you have a vision, you roll up your sleeves and you make it happen.” 

This ethos is unmistakable in the Vista district. Here, just a stone’s throw from the State House, City Art serves as both gallery and a well-stocked art supply hub, while just around the corner, SoulHaus fosters a dynamic space for Columbia’s most compelling contemporary and pop artists. Meanwhile, the nonprofit visual arts incubator Stormwater Studios offers working and exhibition space to ten select artists. “That space is brilliant,” Cook says, noting that other standout galleries in town include 701 Center for Contemporary Art and Over the Mantle. 

If independent venues like these are the glue holding Columbia’s arts scene together, museums provide the anchor. For seventy-five years, the Columbia Museum of Art has served as the cultural heart of the city. Whether through the works of old masters, renowned modernists, or twenty-first-century luminaries (or all of the above—the museum often groups work by theme rather than time period), the CMA’s deep permanent collection and world-class exhibitions have continually sparked dialogue. In Cook’s opinion, it’s an essential stop for any visitor.

Just a few blocks away, the South Carolina State Museum stands as the keeper of the state’s complicated past. While primarily a history museum, it too celebrates the arts with the first-floor Lipscomb Art Gallery. Through rotating exhibitions, the gallery explores the dynamic intersection of heritage and forward-thinking expression. And on May 3, the wonderful world of Disney comes to life with Heroes and Villians, an exhibition showcasing the art of Disney costumes. 

“The scope of the artwork here is expansive,” Cook says. “Every piece—whether fine art in a gallery, buskers at Soda City, skilled craftspeople, or major touring exhibits—contributes to a shared creative energy.” In other words, a morning trip to the market is just the first stop on an endlessly inspiring journey.

Plan your visit to Columbia at experiencecolumbiasc.com