Created by Howard Finster
Born 1915, Valley Head, Alabama
Died 2001, Rome, Georgia

Finster began working in 1961 on what he called his “Plant Farm Museum.” This biblical park–today known as Paradise Garden–features sculptures and structures built by Finster, all of which contain overt messages of salvation. This earthly paradise was built over the course of three decades on reclaimed swampland.

It was a Sunday night and Howard Finster had asked his family a simple question. A Baptist minister, Finster had delivered a sermon earlier that day to friends, family and congregation. How much, he wanted to know, had they remembered? Finster’s question was met with silence and blank stares. He realized, if he intended to get God’s word out in a way that would be memorable and hold mass appeal, he would need to find a different medium. So, around 1965, Finster stepped away from the pulpit and picked up a paintbrush. From then on he would choose to evangelize through pictures. Howard Finster’s life as a sacred artist - and a preacher to the multitudes - had begun.

The idea of preaching through pictures was a logical step for a man like Finster. Born in Valley Head, Alabama, he was brought up in a rural Baptist community. From an early age, he himself learned about salvation and the Ten Commandments through song, rhyme and didactic imagery. As an adult, Finster had taught Sunday school. Following traditional Baptist conventions, he made diagrams to better explain biblical stories to his pupils. As his daughter, Virginia Brown, noted, "He'd write on the blackboard and then he'd draw the pictures and explain it. Anyone could understand it that way. His drawings would always refer to the Bible, and he would draw humans, animals and trees. He had some little drawings at church to give out as souvenirs.”

Molding Heaven from Swampy Earth

Finster used the same didactic approach when creating his own Eden, today’s Paradise Garden. In 1961, Finster had moved his family to Pennville, Georgia. On a two-and-a-half acre plot of swampland, he built his Biblical park. He used sculpture and scripture together to get his message across in a clear and catchy way. Finster did not hesitate to let others help him spread the word. For example, he put household items, garden tools and pop-culture “to work for the Lord.” As Finster  himself noted, “I wrote God’s message on that lawnmower and now it’s preaching for me.” Finster would continue mass-marketing God’s word for the rest of his life.

Finster continued work on the garden for several decades. He constructed the Bicycle Tower out of scrap parts. Other large sculptures, like the TV Woman and Child and Coin Man, were made from recycled materials. It was 15 years before word really got out about Finster’s creation. Eventually, however, the unique work of this singular man caught the attention of the nation. In 1975, Finster’s Garden was featured in Esquire magazine. From then on it was known as Paradise Garden.

Finster’s ‘Sermons in Paint’

About this same time, Finster got a divine message in a most unusual way. While touching up a scratch on a bicycle he was repairing, he looked to the dab of paint on his finger. There he saw two eyes, a mouth and a nose. “… a feeling came over me, a divine feeling just came over me and said, 'Paint Sacred Art.'” Finster’s mission was clear. For the rest of his art Finster would proselytize through painted pictures which he called his "sermons in paint." These pictures followed the format of his own earlier teachings. Each work carried its own biblical message of salvation, oftentimes employing the help of pop icons like Elvis Presley. Works like “Hell is a Hell of a Place” may appear tongue-in-cheek, but their message is serious. Other works feature familiar, and historic, faces. Finster believed George Washington could be equally as effective as John the Baptist when it came to saving souls.

Selling Albums, Saving Souls

Finster soon learned that even rock-and-rollers could make good missionaries. One of his sermons in paint is featured on the 1985 Talking Heads album cover Little Creatures (1985). Sales of this album reached the million mark. This reaching out to the masses worked well in Finster’s master plan. “Each cover has 22 Bible messages on it, so that’s 22 million messages from God going out into the world.” Finster had, a year earlier, provided another sermon in paint to REM, whose album Reckoning (1984) continues to carry out Finster’s work, reaching more people than he ever could have in his forty-five years of preaching.

Finster had made a vow to paint 5,000 pictures. He reached his goal in 1985 and kept on painting. At the time of his death in 2001, his works number over 46,000. They are sought by museums and collectors alike. TV Woman and Child and the one-room building known as the Bible House are now permanent Finster installations at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

Paradise Lost?

Paradise Garden today, according to those faithful to Finster’s original idea, has been somewhat compromised. Many of the Garden’s signature pieces (Coin Man, in addition to Bible House and TV Woman and Child) have been sold to museums and private collectors.

Since Howard Finster’s death in 2001, Paradise Garden had fallen into disrepair. Many of the important sculptures have been sold to museums and private collectors. Others have been compromised by neglect and the elements.

The Gardens are in the process of being restored. Howard Finster's daughter, Beverly, donated Paradise Gardens to a non-profit organization interested in restoring and preserving the Gardens and Finster’s legacy.

Paradise Garden is located in Summerville, Georgia, just two blocks off Highway 27 North. It reopened in November 2008. Call 706-859-8817.

For more information: http://finstersparadisegardens.org/