Howard Finster, an evangelical Baptist minister who claimed to have had his first religious vision as a three year old in Alabama, began to sculpt in 1965 after hearing what he said was the voice of God telling him to make "sacred art." Finster's first major work, dubbed Paradise Garden, consisted of a series of concrete walls and paths surrounded by a 30-foot tower built from bicycle parts, bottles and other objects collected from local garbage dumps. In 1976, Finster turned to painting after having another vision. Finster's paintings, which often include exuberant religious messages and apocryphal signs, served as a vehicle for his ministry, in his own words, a means of "spreading the word." Finster became more widely known in the 1980's after rock bands Talking Heads and R.E.M. featured him on their album covers. During his lifetime, Finster produced more than 40,000 works of art, each numbered and dated. The most widely known contemporary self-taught artist, Finster died in 2001, at age 84.