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Artist Howard Finster - TPR's In Focus - June 10, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Rosa Parks Museum on Troy University's Montgomery campus,
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  located on the spot of Mrs. Parks' historic 1955 arrest, and featuring
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  exhibits that chronicle the history of the Montgomery bus boycott.
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  More information at Troy.edu slash Rosa Parks.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is In Focus, and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  Today, art gallery owner Marcia Weber tells the story of Howard Finster,
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  an Alabama preacher whose vision turned him into an artist.
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  North Georgia's Paradise Garden is his legacy.
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  Marcia joins us from her gallery in Watumka.
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  Marcia, thanks for joining us.
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  Thank you, Carolyn.
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  Marcia, you are the owner of the gallery Marcia Weber Art Objects in Wetumpka,
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  and you have a number of famous artists in your gallery,
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  and we want to talk about one today.
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  Howard Fenster, one of Alabama's most famous artists.
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  Where did he come from?
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  Well, he was born in Valley Head, Alabama.
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  Georgia claims him as well, since a large part of his environment
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  is actually reconstructed in the High Museum in Atlanta.
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  I was reading about Howard Fenster on your website.
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  He was a child of the Depression, a preacher for some 45 years.
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  What happened that turned him into an artist?
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  During the week, he fixed bicycles and televisions
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  and was in the pulpit every Sunday.
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  One time, he was fixing a bicycle,
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  and he got a little spot of paint on his finger,
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  and he declared that it turned into a face and spoke to him
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  and said, paint sacred art.
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  Honor me by painting sacred art.
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  That vision changed his life.
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  Well, did the vision tell him how much art to paint?
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  He said it came with the instructions to paint 5,000 works of art.
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  He managed to do that 5,000 within the first nine years
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  of beginning to paint in 1976, but he just kept going.
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  And in order to know how many pieces he had created,
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  he would date and put a time and a number on each work of art.
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  So those first 5,000 pieces are highly collectible
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  in museums all over the world.
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  Thank goodness I have a few of them in my gallery.
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  Some of his pictures are on your website.
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  What was his subject matter?
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  Well, one, I have a wonderful Hank Williams
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  that is one of the first 5,000 in all paint.
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  It's just a terrific cutout.
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  Howard Fenster would create these cutouts on wood and paint them
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  and put these interesting wacky sayings on them sometimes.
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  So there's a lot of writing on one of Howard's works.
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  Also, I'm so lucky right now to have a Coke bottle.
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  The Coke bottles are really highly sought after.
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  Frankly, even while Howard was alive, I worked for several years
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  just to get the first Coke bottle that I could ever buy from him.
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  They're just super fun to look at.
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  His Coke bottles were actually kind of large cutouts
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  of the shape of a Coke bottle on a thin piece of wood,
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  and then it was primed, and he would then put paint and marker
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  and fill it with all kinds of details and fun sayings.
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  In fact, this Coke bottle that I have here
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  says millions of church folks drink Coke and drive home safely,
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  and Coke would sell without any advertisement.
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  I drink Coke all my life.
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  If anyone has a better drink than Coke,
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  they must have kept it for themselves.
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  I haven't found it yet.
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  And then, of course, being a preacher,
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  the whole point of his wanting to create art
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  was to get his preaching out there to the world.
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  You also have one called Uncle Sam by Howard Fenster,
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  and, of course, this is America's 250th anniversary.
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  Yes, the Uncle Sam also is a cutout, and it's on a stand.
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  It can be hung on the wall,
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  but it would create these standing cutout pieces.
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  He did these Uncle Sams during the Desert Storm War,
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  so a lot of the Uncle Sams have references to the Desert Storm War.
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  How long has he been deceased?
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  Howard's been deceased for 25 years,
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  and so all of his art is from the 90s into the early 2000s.
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  You mentioned the High Museum in Atlanta,
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  and I read on your website
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  that they actually have part of his Paradise Garden.
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  What was his Paradise Garden?
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  It's just an amazing place,
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  and really, you can go and visit it today.
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  He started creating this environment,
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  which is not that unusual for self-taught artists,
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  to start a big yard show,
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  and this was something that he began to create
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  even before he started to paint.
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  His original idea was that he was going to gather
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  one of each item to have on display there
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  on several acres of chapel,
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  and wildly inventive sculptures and constructions
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  and things out of concrete that had embedded tools.
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  And where is Paradise Garden?
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  It is just over the Alabama line in Somerville, Georgia.
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  That's why Georgia claims him just like Alabama,
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  because most of his art was created
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  while he lived in Georgia.
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  This is just north of center Alabama.
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  Marcia, from the pictures, it is a most unusual place.
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  Can you describe what you saw in Paradise Garden?
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  Fruit hanging on the trees, tomatoes on the vines.
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  It really was a garden, along with incredible works of art
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  that he had just created,
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  just wacky things out of found objects.
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  You can still go and see it, even today,
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  because Foundation has purchased the garden
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  from Howard's family,
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  and they have lovingly restored it professionally.
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  And they have a festival there once a year
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  for all kinds of artists to gather that are self-taught
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  and celebrate Howard and sell their art.
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  And it's quite a gathering place.
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  After Howard died,
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  the High Museum was so interested in his work
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  that they acquired a large amount of the works of art
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  that were there.
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  They have a very interesting recreation of it
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  as part of the High Museum.
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  It takes up a lot of space at the High
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  in its unpermanent exhibit.
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  You had another article on your website,
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  marciaweberartobjects.com,
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  and it was about outsider art.
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  What is outsider art,
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  and why are so many artists today popular
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  who do self-taught art?
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  I think it appeals broadly to people
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  because it's such honest art.
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  It's unaffected, it's unpretentious.
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  It just flows right out of the heart of the artist.
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  It's not following trends or rules
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  set by academic standards.
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  So a lot of times,
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  it just takes on a character of its own
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  that's probably related to the artists themselves
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  and what caused them to begin making art.
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  I believe the collecting audience for this art,
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  which is broader and broader every year,
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  it truly comes through as something that makes you smile
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  when you look at it on your wall,
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  and it's fun to live around.
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  That's really what art ought to be,
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  should bring joy to the world,
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  and this art does.
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  You have a picture of Howard Fenster on your website.
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  He has a banjo in his hand.
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  He's sitting in a chair.
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  So do give us your website,
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  which has information on your gallery.
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  My website is
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  marciaweberartobjects.com
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  So if you just remember the marciaweberartobjects.com
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  Marcia, I want to thank you for your visit today
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  and telling us about artist Howard Fenster
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  and his Paradise Garden.
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  Oh, well, thank you, Carolyn, for having me.
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  Joining us from Wetumpka was Marcia Weber,
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  owner of the gallery Marcia Weber Art Objects,
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  with the story of artist Howard Finster.
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  Thanks for joining us for In Focus,
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  which is a podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson,
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  and this is listener-supported Troy Public Radio.