Here and gone

Artist Carol Foldvary-Anderson is audacious enough to destroy her artwork.

And she refuses to make excuses for discarding the paper sculptures she creates and displays.

Foldvary-Anderson has created 40 paper sculptures since 1994, the largest 12 feet by 26 feet. Only two of these works remain—one in the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City and the other in her home. Her artwork, which in addition to sculpture includes children’s book illustrations, paintings, calligraphy, coin designs, coffee mug designs, rock art, T-shirt graphics, wall murals, photography and even a Christmas tree ornament for the White House, radiates childlike simplicity.

After she and I visited the Brewery Arts Center, we headed to the artist’s Carson City home. Once there, she rushed from room to room, seeming as childlike and eager as her works, excitedly pointing out wired Nevada rocks, painted golf balls, fish paper machetes and her kitchen walls, which are painted with cartoon-ish rocks reminiscent of those in The Flintstones. The wall-spanning paper sculpture is an assortment of ornate, variously shaped pieces of vividly colored paper.

“It bothers [people] that it’s so temporary,” Foldvary-Anderson said of her sculpture. “The paper sculptures represent the flow of life, whether it’s good, bad or indifferent. The fact that it doesn’t last forever—well, we don’t last forever.”

She’s never heard of another artist in Nevada who builds the paper structures to such a magnitude. But she would never limit herself to one medium. Foldvary-Anderson will take on any job that has to do with art. She’s making a living, and she’s having the time of her life doing it.

“It’s all experimenting and being open to anything that’s out there,” she said. “Why limit yourself?”

Last year, Foldvary-Anderson received the Carson City Artist of the Year award for her art contribution, including the design of the Carson City Millennium Coin and a San Francisco novelty mug.

“I’m surprised at my success, because I know that there are people who are better than me," she said, crediting her success to her determination, consistency and timing. "Just being creative is being alive. There’s always a lot more to do. I don’t think I’ll live long enough to do all that I want to do."