mini road trip, part 2: Summerville

The goal was to spend some time in Summerville, in northwest Georgia, and visit a local attraction. We left Valley Head, and got back on the road. Had an appointment with a tour guide who would take us through the Paradise Gardens. You really need to google it to get the full story.

Howard Finster was a local man who reported God had told him to quit preaching and start making art. He was a hoarder before there was a name for it. And likely a man who could not pass up any junk/trash he saw that has potential for his assemblages. There was one decaying pile of bicycles that was originally two stories tall, where people could reportedly walk through. Much of his work consisted of embedding things in concrete: found objects, tools, glass bottles, ceramic tile, children's toys, etc. Anything he stopped along the roadway and collected to bring home. I wish I knew how much he had invested in bags of concrete?

He was, at one point, known locally as a bicycle repair person, but when God gave him the 'make art' vision, he embedded all his tools in concrete, to demonstrate to the world that he was through with that line of work. He constructed all sort of buildings, architectural structures, things the people who have started a non-profit are still discovering that had been overgrown with vegetation in the years of neglect. According to our tour guide, Steve, the visionary Howard was given some land through a grant from the government.  Low, swampy, useless, but he dug canals, drained it and started building what he 'saw'. And like the storybook tells about Topsy: it just grew and grew. You really need to google it.

As you might imagine, it's being renovated, restored, rebuilt, through grant money and donations. I guess it could be considered a legacy worth preserving. Or a huge oddity.

I've seen some of his folk art in the High Museum in Atlanta, and the Columbus Museum collections. I think the bike-repair tools, embedded in a big flat rectangle of concrete, is part of the permanent collection in the High.  We saw a short clip of Howard on the Johnny Carson show: he was singing a song he made up, especially for the occasion of being invited to the 'Tonight Show'. You really need to google it.