Howard Finster and Paradise Garden-Georgia's Art Legacy

The popular folk art celebration of Rev. Howard Finster's living legacy.Photo byParadise Garden Foundation

“You are not alone,” he told me. “God loves you and is always with you.” Those words-which I desperately needed to hear- were spoken by the frail man I did not know. Others, however, were fans and lined up to greet him. Many had art works he would sign.

I met Reverend Howard Finster, the country’s most famous folk and visionary artist that day at the Kentuck Festival of the Arts near the banks of the Black Warrior River in Northport, Alabama. We would meet several times thereafter, and he became one of my favorite subjects for stories.

We were culturally and spiritually kin. My mother was born and raised in the same area of northeastern Alabama where Finster was from. We were Baptists. We loved music. Finster, as I later learned, played a 5-string banjo and loved gospel music. It’s one of my favorites.

In the decade before his death in 2001, Howard Finster was a giant in the art world. He numbered all his paintings, sculptures, carvings and constructions which totaled over 48,000. Museums throughout the country collected his works. Pilgrims from the four corners visited him at Paradise Garden, his constructed vision of Heaven in Summerville, Georgia.

Rev. Finster was a popular attraction at Folk Fest, Steve and Amy Slotin’s Folk Art marketplace held for many years in Atlanta. I attended each summer weekend edition and spent precious time listening to Finster speak about hope, faith, forgiveness and love, subjects he knew well and believed in.

I never doubted anything said by Finster, who usually avoided conversation and instead spoke in parables. The impact was profound.

Rock legends made their way to Paradise Garden. R.E.M. and The Talking Heads commissioned him to paint album covers that garnered prestigious awards. He delivered a “Sermon on Elvis,” at the university of Mississippi complete with his gospel quartet singing accompanied by his banjo.

I purchased a work from Rev. Finster titled “Winged Elvis.” Several of his Elvis paintings depict the “King of Rock and Roll,” as a young farm boy in coveralls sporting angel wings. Finster’s works were distinctive for the Biblical scripture he added. Elvis was no exception.

On the front porch at Paradise Garden just after the end of his marvelous “Finster Fest,” the annual weekend folk art extravaganza he hosted, Finster said this about Elvis: “Elvis died before he completed God’s mission. His soul has not come to rest.”

Reverend Howard Finster departed this life in 2001. His works in Atlanta’s High Museum of Art are important parts of America’s cultural heritage. Paradise Garden has been preserved through the dedicated leadership of a foundation. Finster Fest, a worthy family-friendly endeavor continues and grows in popularity.

Reverend Howard Finster’s grave is located on a hillside church cemetery not far from Paradise Garden. It faces Heaven.

Rev. Howard Finster's "Sermon on Elvis" at Ole Miss in 1995.Photo byDown South Today