Folk-artist. He received international acclaim as a self-taught American folk-artist in the 20th century, who was called the "Andy Warhol of the South." Born William Howard Finster, one of thirteen children in rural Alabama, he preached his first sermon at age sixteen. Relocating from Alabama to Georgia, he preached at tent revivals, performed baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Following being the pastor of several small churches, he retired in 1965. As an itinerant Baptist preacher, carpenter, bricklayer, cotton mill worker, and bicycle repairman, he had over 21 jobs during his life, but he became famous for making over 46,000 works of art. Besides the artist's oil-on-canvas, he used various media such as plywood, plastic, beads, sequins, slabs of mosaic sidewalk, and concrete for sculptures. After preaching God's word from the pulpit, publishing religious songs and poetry in local newspapers in the 1930s, and hosting a radio prayer show in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he claimed that God led him in 1976 to illustrate his religious visions. There are themes to his art: life and death, redemption of wrongdoings and God's amazing grace. His art featured whimsical landscapes with historical and pop cultural figures, such as George Washington, Santa Claus, Elvis Presley and a host of Biblical characters, and each piece adorned with handwritten Bible verses. He was a patriotic American, which could be seen in his art. In 1983 he was a guest on Johnny Carson's "Tonight" show on NBC, singing and playing his banjo along with being interviewed about his art. He painted the album covers for two American rock bands: R.E.M.'s 1984 "Reckoning" and Talking Heads' 1985 "Little Creatures," which received "Rolling Stone" magazine's "Album Cover of the Year." After receiving fame, he lectured at various art schools and universities. He painted a 13-inch Olympic-themed Coke bottle art for Coca-Cola in 1996. He is one of the most exhibited artists in the world. He has had many exhibitions at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC. Three of his works are part of Georgia's State Art Collection: the 1987 mixed media works "Angel," "Visions of Other Worlds in Outer Space Beyond" in 1989, and the 1990 enamel painting "In Visions of Another World." The largest collection of his works can be found at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, which held one of his major exhibitions in 1996. Located on a two-and-half acre lot in Summerville, Georgia, his home and studio, "Paradise Garden," was the site for two rock music videos: R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe" and country group Blackhawk's "Just About Right." Opening in the 1980s for tourists, "Paradise Garden" continues to have tours into the second decade of the 21st century and is listed on the National Register of Historical Places. He married and the couple had five children. In 2010 his remains were moved from the original burial site in Silver Hill Baptist Church Cemetery in Georgia to his hometown's Springs Cemetery in Valley Head, Alabama. His hometown holds annually the "Howard Finster Day" folk art festival in the spring. There are numerous books written about Finster's art.