35 Years at Paradise Garden - Photography by Mikel Yeakle

Summerville, GA — Paradise Garden Foundation presents 35 Years at Paradise Garden, a photography exhibition by Mikel Yeakle on view March 7 through May 24, 2026. The exhibition brings together more than three decades of Yeakle’s photographic engagement with Howard Finster’s historic art environment. 

Yeakle first visited Paradise Garden in the late 1980s, making his earliest photographs in 1989. He returned repeatedly in the decades that followed, developing an ongoing relationship with the site. Rather than capturing a single moment, the work unfolds as a photographic meditation on Paradise Garden shaped through sustained observation, intimacy, and time. 

Most of the works in the exhibition are composite images created through digital layering of photographs made at Paradise Garden across those years. Rather than single-moment views, these works merge multiple exposures into unified compositions. The photographs are intended to appear effortless, though they are the result of deliberate restraint and an ongoing dialogue with place, balancing documentation with interpretation. 

“Like Howard Finster’s own practice, built from found materials and layered messages, Mikel Yeakle’s photographs embody a dialogue between reality and imagination,” said Davia Weatherill, Executive Director of Paradise Garden Foundation. “They honor Paradise Garden as it exists while recognizing that the site continues to invite reinterpretation, inspiring new artistic responses across generations.” 

Originally from Indiana and a graduate of the Art Institute of Atlanta, Yeakle has long been active within the southern photography community, including sustained involvement with the Atlanta Photography Group and the Little River Arts Council in Mentone, Alabama. His work reflects a commitment to photography not simply as documentation, but as interpretation—an effort to reconcile observation, intuition, and memory, and to honor the complexity found within seemingly simple spaces. 

Paradise Garden, located in the Pennville community just north of Summerville, Georgia, is the four-acre art environment created by Reverend Howard Finster (1916–2001), one of America’s most recognized self-taught artists. Today, the site remains a place of pilgrimage and artistic dialogue, continuing to inspire new generations of artists. 

An opening reception will be held Saturday, March 7 at 2:30 PM, featuring light refreshments and an artist talk with Mikel Yeakle. 35 Years at Paradise Garden is included with regular admission to the art environment and remains on view through May 24, 2026. For hours and visitor information, visit ParadiseGardenFoundation.org. 

About Paradise Garden Foundation

Paradise Garden Foundation preserves and interprets the art and legacy of Howard Finster through stewardship of his historic art environment, exhibitions, and educational programming. Located in northwest Georgia and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Paradise Garden welcomes thousands of visitors annually and serves as a center for folk and self-taught art.