Columbian Trahern Cook does not remember ever not painting. After graduating from Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, Trahern started college at the Rhode Island School of Design. Completing his degree in Sarasota, Florida, at the Ringling College of Art and Design, he moved to Nashville, where he found work as an illustrator. In 2006, missing family and access to the coast, Trahern, Lori, and their two children moved back from Nashville to Columbia. Trahern realized that he really likes being with people while he paints. He says, “I feel like I’m really in the moment, absorbing the place. Painting in a studio is like being on an island.”
Like many of those who enjoy Saturday mornings at Columbia’s Soda City Market, Trahern Cook arrives early with his bags in hand and a plan in his head. But unlike the other shoppers, Trahern isn’t there early to pluck the tastiest tomatoes or find the sweetest strawberries. Easel slung over his shoulder, Trahern is scoping out the best view of the market so he can set up his paints and begin his capture of Saturday morning at Soda City, translating the scene into one of his energetic and brightly colored paintings.
Over the years he’s become a fixture, not just at Soda City but at Columbia’s annual St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, in the Vista at the Art Bar, in front of Lula Drake Wine Parlour when the Flat Out Strangers play on First Thursday, and on the State House grounds. He takes the show on the road, too, painting street scenes in Charlotte, Nashville, Winnsboro, and other cities. “Sometimes, when I visit a place I sort of feel compelled to paint it,” he says. “The spot tends to just call out to me.”
A Columbia native, Trahern says that when people ask him how long he’s been painting, he doesn’t really know how to answer because he doesn’t remember doing anything else. “My parents must have recognized something because paints or crayons were always around,” he says. “No one encouraged me to be a basketball player.”
After graduating from Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, Trahern started college at the Rhode Island School of Design. Completing his degree in Sarasota, Florida, at the Ringling College of Art and Design, he moved to Nashville, where he found work as an illustrator.
Though he was successful professionally — Nashville was filled with opportunities for illustrators at the time — Trahern credits his wife, Lori, for giving him the freedom to explore painting as an outlet for creative expression and eventually a way to earn a living. “Lori gave me an easel for our two-year anniversary,” he says. “Since I did all my work on a drafting table at the time, I really didn’t know how I could use it, so I told her I would hold on to it until I retired.”
That day came sooner than the Cooks had planned. In 2006, missing family and access to the coast, Trahern, Lori, and their two children moved back from Nashville to Columbia. Though Trahern continued to work as a freelance illustrator, he also found himself pulling out the easel that Lori had given him. “I didn’t know exactly how to continue as a creative, so I joined About Face, a plein air, or outdoor, painting group,” he says. “We did a little bit of everything, including portrait and figure work in the basement of the Columbia Museum of Art and, of course, painting outside.”
Trahern says that while he enjoyed all the creative practice he received with the group, it was the plein air painting that spoke to him. “I realized that I really like being with people while I paint,” he says. “I feel like I’m really in the moment, absorbing the place. Painting in a studio is like being on an island.”
Before long, Trahern made a point of setting up his easel in places where he could not only get a sense of the action swirling around him but was also visible and accessible to the people in attendance. “You definitely shouldn’t be painting outside if you can’t deal with constant interruption,” he says with a laugh. “For me, interacting with the crowd is what gives the paintings their energy.”
That bright energy, which has become a hallmark of Trahern’s paintings, took time to develop. “Working as an illustrator, you’re hired to do a job,” he says. “I had a certain style, but it had to work within the confines of what the client wanted. Painting for myself has allowed me to stretch my wings. I feel like my style is still evolving.”
At first glance, many of Trahern’s paintings give a sense of almost unbridled vigor, but a closer look reveals a strong structure that loosens as it moves outward from the center of the work. “The perspective does tend to be exaggerated,” says Trahern. “The looseness stretches the boundaries, which is part of the fun of painting.”
Although Trahern often takes a painting home before selling it so he can clean it up, he’s trying to move away from that habit and accept each work, flaws and all. “The scene feels truer if I can capture it the first time out,” he says. “I’m learning that what I see as flaws are what give a painting its electricity. I liken it to live music — we love it because it’s completely in the moment. But there’s also a certain vulnerability there — the formally trained artist in me wants to ‘perfect’ my craft.” As he explains his point, he pulls out a recent painting, which had, in the moment, been mistitled. “At first, I couldn’t believe that I’d done that, but, now, looking at it, I think it reflects the momentum of the day,” he says, brightening. “If it’s too sterile, what’s the point?”
As Trahern moves toward accepting his paintings as they are, he finds inspiration in the work of the French artist Edgar Degas, whose gesture drawings expressed movement despite their unfinished, almost abstract quality. “Degas accepted imperfection as he was finding his line of gesture, and as I studied it, I realized that it allows the painting to breathe,” says Trahern.
Though Trahern doesn’t hold too tightly to process when he’s painting at an event, he says he does follow a game plan that usually involves scoping out the composition with charcoal and doing a bit of base painting in burnt sienna — a dark nutmeg shade — and blue. “People expect me to start a certain way, and when they walk up and see nothing but figures that look like they’re made from wire they get a little nervous,” he says. “In a perfect world, the day will be warm and dry, which allows the paint to dry faster and gives me more time to layer colors over one another without the colors getting muddy.”
Trahern does find that the intensity of the event often dictates the looseness, or degree of abstraction, in his paintings. “What’s nice about where I’ve landed with my painting is that I can make it looser or tighter and still maintain my style,” he says. “It allows me to tell the story that’s happening in front of me, whether it’s a guitarist jamming out at New Brookland Tavern or a landscape at Lake Murray. If I pull it off, people look at the painting and wonder what’s around the bend.” His muse is often children’s books. “They make the big world small, which is basically what I do with my paintings.”
Though facial features are often softened in Trahern’s painting, he still manages to capture deep emotions, a skill that has served him well as he is asked to paint more and more live wedding ceremonies and receptions. The trend, which began about 10 years ago, involves an artist setting up an easel at the event and translating the entire event into a single image of captured moments. Trahern’s swirling style gives his wedding paintings just the right touch of fantasy for a storybook day. “The bride and groom are always the focal point, and you can see some details of the venue, but there’s lots of room on the edges for things to get softer,” he says. “Although I want the viewer to recognize the people and the place, it’s really about the moment.”
Trahern says that his early work as an illustrator prepared him to navigate working with clients, who often have specific ideas in mind, especially when it comes to their weddings. “They are hiring me to paint what they want, within the boundary of my style, and I want them to be happy. I feel privileged to paint anyone’s wedding.”
One bride who is overjoyed with her painting is Mary Kate Korpita, who married Chad Bowman in the gardens surrounding Hampton-Preston Mansion in November 2021. “I first saw a live wedding painter in Nantucket and knew I wanted to have an artist at my wedding as well,” she says. “I had admired Trahern’s work and style for years.”
Though some couples choose to have Trahern paint their wedding ceremony, Mary Kate and Chad asked Trahern to depict their reception instead. “Watching Trahern paint is one of my favorite things, and if he was painting the ceremony, no one would be able to see him at work,” she says. “I really wanted my friends and family to be part of the process.”
Today, Trahern’s painting is the focal point of the couple’s living room. “He somehow captured everything from a single perspective,” she says. “I love the abstract quality but also that it’s realistic enough that you can see where we are and who we are. He even added fun touches, like a hat that my friend wore.”
Trahern says, “I want people to feel like they saw something, a cool moment they didn’t anticipate,” he says. “It’s a sweet spot in the narrative that allows everyone to feel like they are still there.”
