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Reopened World’s Folk Art Church is a vision restored

Staff photo by Abby White / The outside of the World's Folk Art Church is pictured June 21, 2025. The World's Folk Art Church at Howard Finster's Paradise Garden held a reopening after 25 years of being closed. Staff photo by Abby White / The outside of the World's Folk Art Church is pictured June 21, 2025. The World's Folk Art Church at Howard Finster's Paradise Garden held a reopening after 25 years of being closed.

By Ellen Gerst June 21, 2025 9 min read

SUMMERVILLE, Ga. — In North Georgia, the faithful — to God or art — have a place to worship again.

The World’s Folk Art Church, a tiered and mirrored tower at Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden, opened Saturday after being closed to visitors for more than 25 years.

Finster, a Baptist minister and bicycle mechanic who became a prolific self-taught artist after hearing a call from God, is known as the “Man of Visions.”

Some may recognize his work from R.E.M. and Talking Heads’ album covers, or from visiting the two galleries dedicated to him at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art — but many Saturday stressed you can’t really experience Finster’s visions without coming to his Paradise Garden.