Bicycle mechanic slash minister the Rev. Howard Finster got a divine calling so he created thousands of pieces of artwork, many of which went on to grace rock albums and hang in museums. His home that's open to the public, called Paradise Garden, is covered in his art.
The secret to life can be found in the ladies’ rooms of a northwestern Georgia attraction.
Paradise Garden in Summerville, once the home of the Rev. Howard Finster who, when repairing a bicycle in 1976, received a sacred image on the tip of his finger that told him to “paint sacred art.”
He answered his finger, saying he wasn’t an artist.
The vision replied, “How do you know?”
Finster took this message to heart and began painting everything he could find, beginning with George Washington on a dollar bill. Finster created more than 46,991 pieces of art before his death at age 84 in 2001, from popular culture icons such as Elvis Presley and Coca-Cola to angels and biblical verses. His art is in every major museum in the Unites States and some throughout the world. He has graced album covers for rock bands R.E.M. and Talking Heads, appeared on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson and has been called “the grandfather of Southern Folk Art” and “the Andy Warhol of the South.”
Visiting his home and gardens is a spiritual experience. Saying Finster painted on everything feels like an understatement. He transformed items people would have otherwise thrown away, built small houses out of mirrors and stone accented by mosaics, created a tower of used bicycles and one from hubcaps, and so much more. Even the sidewalks and fences contain art. In addition, much of his more developed artwork is on display in the visitor’s center.
So, what does this have to do with a woman’s room? Inside the center’s restroom is one of Finster’s quotes:
“My work is scrubby. It’s bad, nasty art. But it’s telling something. You don’t have to be a perfect artist to work in art.”
I’ve never been religious in the classical sense of the word but his happy angels, whimsical creations and lifting Bible verses (not the depressing, scary kind) lifted my soul when I visited on a rainy day. For instance, a wall of fluffy clouds offered this quote: “When troubles come from every side, and you don’t know what to do. Turn your self off and trust in God. He will take you through.”
Or maybe this quote above a cow cutout for these political times: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rules of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
There’s also an Air B&B across the street so you can eat and sleep Howard Finster as well. The house has been decorated by designer Summer Loftin, is pet friendly and allows unlimited access to Paradise Garden.
Weird, Wacky & Wild South is written by travel writer Cheré Dastugue Coen who loves an offbeat Southern artist. She just had to take a selfie in Finster's house of mirrors.
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