Laguna Art Museum’s centennial honors artist Tony DeLap

Tony DeLap reflects in his Corona del Mar living room.

Just as DeLap’s art influenced and inspired new generations of younger artists, so too did his efforts in the classroom. DeLap taught and mentored some of today’s most notable contemporary artists, including Bruce Nauman, John McCracken and James Turrell. But while he pioneered art forms and founded a major artist community at UC Irvine, he never sought out the same level of attention as some of his contemporaries. For him, teaching, creation and experimentation were enough.