Howard Finster was an American artist and Baptist minister from Georgia. He claimed to be inspired by God to spread the gospel through the design of his swampy land into Paradise Garden, a folk art sculpture garden with over 46,000 pieces of art. His creations include outsider art, naïve art, and visionary art. Finster came to widespread notice in the 1980s with his album cover designs for R.E.M. and Talking Heads.

An album cover is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to:the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: sets of 10 in (25 cm) and 12 in (30 cm) 78 rpm records singles and sets of 12 in (30 cm) long-play records sets of 45 rpm records the front-facing panel of: a cassette J-card a CD package the primary image accompanying a digital download of the album.