Explore CollectionsHoward Finster

Howard Finster

Howard Finster (American, 1916–2001), Gospel Bike, #1,776,  ca. 1980, enamel on bicycle, Norfolk Southern Collection of Self-Taught Art, 1995.174.

A preacher, bicycle repairman, inventor, and devoted family man, Howard Finster (American, 1916–2001) had a vision from God in 1976 commanding him to begin preaching in paint. He created more than 46,000 works of art and transformed his property in Summerville, Georgia, into Paradise Garden, an extraordinary art environment that is still open to the public. For more than two decades, Finster’s work has been a fixture at the High, which has the largest public collection of his work outside of Paradise Garden, including slabs of mosaic sidewalk, other concrete sculptures, and many signs and paintings that once adorned the Garden.