Finster's unique artistic style reflected his roots as a tent revival preacher who urged people to repent of their sins and follow Jesus. There were visions of heaven and hell, angels and the apocalypse, often scrawled with scriptures and religious sayings.
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MR. EDWARD KNIPPERS (artist): Howard was always a preacher. The way he got into art, he preached one Sunday morning; in the evening, the people did not know what he had said in the morning. And he realized this isn't working, and so the Lord really led him to art. He didn't think he was a painter; the Lord said, "Well, you've never tried." That's the way he talked about it. And so he tried and became world famous.
LAWTON: Prominent artist Edward Knippers knew Finster for more than 15 years and owns several Finster pieces in his private collection.
MR. KNIPPERS: Now, we have people that want to be artists, running around trying to find something to say. Finster had something to say, and then he invented a way to say it.
LAWTON: Ed reads from [a] Finster painting: "It will take a lifetime, working day and night, to reach the corners of this dark world, with my little light. Some will close their curtains, some will pull down shades, some will hear my message, and they will have it made."
LAWTON: Prominent artist Edward Knippers knew Finster for more than 15 years and owns several Finster pieces in his private collection.
MR. KNIPPERS: Now, we have people that want to be artists, running around trying to find something to say. Finster had something to say, and then he invented a way to say it.LAWTON: Ed reads from [a] Finster painting: "It will take a lifetime, working day and night, to reach the corners of this dark world, with my little light. Some will close their curtains, some will pull down shades, some will hear my message, and they will have it made."
MS. BEVERLY FINSTER: He built this place to honor God. But it's a connecting place for you and God.
LAWTON: His daughter says Finster is now with the Band of Angels he so loved to paint. She says, "He is more alive now than he ever has been."
Read tributes to Howard Finster by fellow painter 
