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Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Northeast Alabama, the town of Valley Head is known for two things - it is usually the coldest spot in a state known for its hot weather - and it is the birthplace of the most influential folk Artist of the twentieth century.

 Howard Finster was born in this rural DeKalb County Alabama town on December 2nd 1916, six years before his birthplace even had a name (the town of Valley Head wasn't  established until 1922). With a modern-day population of less than 700, the town hasn't changed a whole lot since, and while the town of Valley Head and the state of Alabama can lay claim to being Finster's birthplace, he lived most of his adult life and created all of his art just over the State Line from Valley Head in the town of Summerville, Georgia.

Born into a lumberjack's family of thirteen children, young Howard had his first vision at the age of three. While looking for his mother in the family's vegetable garden, he saw his dead sister wearing a white robe and descending from heaven. Howard believed that this was a sign from God that he would use art to spread the gospel. 

Dropping out of school after the sixth grade, Howard began to preach in rural churches in Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama. His spent his weekdays working in mills and factories and would also repair bicycles and lawn mowers. 

In the mid-1970s Howard had another vision. While using his finger to dab paint on a bicycle, he saw a human face in the fingertip. Howard interpreted this as a sign from God that he should create works of art in order to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. From then until his death, Howard Finster painted almost non-stop. He slept very little and painted detailed accounts of his visions and dreams. His paintings, especially the early works, were like small, visual sermons which often included angels fighting off evil. Howard scrawled messages on the works warning people about the end of time. 

He sprung into American Pop Culture in the early 1980s after appearing on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson." Howard played the banjo for Johnny and declared that there were only two "beauty" spots in the world, Hollywood, California and Summerville, Georgia. Soon after this appearance, he created artwork for the  album "Reckoning" by the  Athens, Georgia based band R.E.M. Howard also appears in their music video "Radio Free Europe." Howard and Micheal Stipe of R.E.M. established a close relationship and Howard created a total of three album covers for them. 

The work on "Reckoning" caught the attention of David Byrne of the Talking Heads and Howard was asked to produce artwork for the cover of what would become their hugely successful 1985 work "Little Creatures." Howard was paid $4,200 for creating what Rolling Stone named  the "Album Cover of the Year" for 1985. The cover features the talking Head's David Byrne balancing the world on his shoulders. Among other messages scrawled on the over, the lower right corner has this inscription " David Byrne is now on T.V. I am listening to him while painting this art 3:15 past midnight April-12-1985. This is my 4000.411th piece of art work by Howard Finster from God in visions of other worlds. Beyond the light of the sun."

Howard's fame as a folk artist quickly spread after the media attention garnered from these two works and he made several appearances on both national and local television talk shows. New fans of his art started showing up at his home in Summerville where he had created "Paradise Gardens," an outdoor environment that he began in the early 1960s. His work has been written about extensively in newspapers and magazines and has been the subject of many books, most of which are available on our books page. 

"Howard was extremely talkative and charismatic, but underlying all of that was a generosity of spirit that drew people to him," said Howard's long-time friend Lee Kogan, of the American Folk Art Museum."I remember one New York exhibition where he arrived in this marvelous electric-blue suit, and at the reception, people treated him like a rock star." Ms. Kogan said. 

Howard's art is owned by some of America's most prestigious museums including New York's American Folk Art Museum and Atlanta's High Museum of Art.     

Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, Chief Curator of the Smithsonian's American Art Museum said that, "Howard Finster and Grandma Moses defined for the American Public what contemporary folk art is. He was a phenomenal twentieth century artist, in or out of folk art."

Even as his health failed in the 1990s, Howard remained a folk art icon, appearing at art festivals, one of which he held annually at Paradise Gardens, appropriately named "FinsterFest."  He also appeared at academic seminars and in 1995 gave a lecture on Elvis Presley at the University of Mississippi. Howard claimed to have regular visions of God and Elvis. He told the crowd at Ol' Miss that "I turned around and looked up and saw his face. I said to him the only thing I could think of to say,'Elvis, can you stay a while with me?' and he said,'Howard, I'm on a tight schedule.'"

Howard Finster went to be with the Lord on October 22nd, 2001. He was one of a kind.

Outsider Art

The Educational Side of VisionaryArt.com

Collectors: Consign Your Pieces for Sale