Man Of Visions Celebrated At Annual Finster Fest This Weekend
The Rev. Howard Finster was a preacher who had a vision to tell the Word of God through folk art.
Courtesy of Paradise Gardens
Renowned Georgia folk artist the Rev. Howard Finster proclaimed himself a “Man of Visions.”
His calling to make sacred art resulted in the creation of nearly 47,000 paintings and sculptures. In the process, Finster transformed his property in Summerville, Georgia, into what would become known as a “folk art environment,” which he named Paradise Garden.
Finster’s work has been shown at the Venice Biennale, the National Gallery, the Corcoran, L.A. County Museum and is in the permanent collection at the High Museum of Art.
His artwork graced the album covers of R.E.M.’s “Reckoning” and The Talking Heads’ “Little Creatures,” which won Rolling Stone magazine’s 1985 Album Cover of the Year award.
“He [Finster] had such a generous personality, and one thing he always did was say, ‘Yes to life,’” said Tina Cox, executive director of the Paradise Garden Foundation.
Finster was a man of his word and practiced what he preached on the power of love. He died in 2001 at the age of 84 in Rome, Georgia.
The man and the culmination of his visions are being celebrated Memorial Day weekend in Summerville.
Cox and Howard Pousner, chair of the Paradise Garden Foundation, spoke with “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes about Finster Fest.
Finster Fest is a fundraiser for the nonprofit Paradise Garden Foundation, which works to preserve Finster’s four-acre art installation.
Forty-one artists from Georgia and 27 artists from the Southeast and beyond will show their works on the Paradise Garden grounds.
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