Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden: A folk-art haven made from ‘other people’s junk’

Howard Finster, a Baptist preacher turned self-taught artist, was sometimes called “the grandfather of Southern Folk Art” or “the Andy Warhol of the South.”

The best way to understand the late eccentric artist is to visit Paradise Garden near Summerville, Georgia, which Finster built by hand over 30 years.

“The gardens,” as he called it, is a shamble of structures created from scraps and what Finster called “other people’s junk.” It features winding mosaic pathways, bright murals, a painted Cadillac and a ramshackle chapel called the World’s Folk Art Church on 2.5 acres in Pennville, a small community outside Summerville. About 43 miles from downtown Chattanooga, Paradise Garden is an easy day trip and allows you to drop into Finster’s world.