The Crowd: Art of Dining celebrates artist Tony DeLap

Tony DeLap has lived his 88 years on the planet exploring creative expression through the visual arts. As a 20th century contemporary artist, his work has been exhibited internationally, gracing many esteemed collections.

As his career rose in the early 1960s, DeLap became associated with UC Irvine, which was just breaking ground on the remote, barren former cow pastures of the Irvine Ranch. DeLap started the University’s Studio Art Program and spent the next three decades developing his personal artistic course, blending the pursuit of painting, sculpture and, to some degree, graphic arts and architecture.

DeLap retired from UCI in 1991 and in retirement began his third act, continuing to blend his creative interests and calling on what have been labeled his iconic illusionary installations dating to the 1970s.

Last year, a monograph titled “Tony DeLap, Painting, Sculpture & Works on Paper 1962-2013” was published by Radius Books.

DeLap was honored recently along with the late arts patron Henry Segerstrom at Art of Dining, which benefits the Orange County Museum of Art.

It is one of the most special events on the Orange Coast social calendar. Art of Dining over the last several decades has been a magnet for culture and community interest, attracting the establishment and new-age progressives who celebrate the unquestionable role of creative expression in society.

Year in and year out, the organizers of Art of Dining have brought to the table celebrated artists, captains of industry, arts philanthropists and a selection of unknown artists with an interesting prospective of their own. The often conflicting worlds of bottom-line business and artistic passion have blended gracefully on this unique evening.

For the second year in a row, the committee has joined with South Coast Plaza in staging Art of Dining across The Bridge of Gardens, which connects two massive retail centers opposite one another across Bear Street in Costa Mesa.

Joachim Splichal and his Patina Group created a gourmet dining experience in conjunction with the artistic design of White Lilac, transforming The Bridge of Gardens into a spectacular once-a-year setting for patrons of OCMA. It was all made possible by the generosity of presenting sponsor Louis Vuitton and underwriting by South Coast Plaza and the Segerstrom family and others.

The committee responsible for the execution of the evening was made up of dedicated women who have in large part been responsible for making the Orange County social scene the envy of the nation. Marsha Anderson, Sally Crockett, Susan Etchandy, Deborah Lake, Twyla Marin, Irene Martino, Jeri McKenna, Jennifer Segerstrom and Jennifer Van Bergh pulled out all the stops to attract a sell-out black-tie crowd, raising a significant six-figure sum for the museum.

On hand to welcome the arriving crush for a cocktail reception in the Garden Terrace adjacent to the bridge was OCMA director and CEO Todd Smith and Anthony Ledru, president and CEO of Louis Vuitton Americas.

Spotted in the cocktail crowd were Barbara and David Cline, Sally and Randy Crockett, Amy and Terry Dwyer, Debra Gunn Downing and Charles Kanter, Maralou and Jerry Harrington, Lilli and Paul Merage, Elyse and Bruce Miller, Jenny and Preston Minor, Jennifer and Anton Segerstrom, Pat and Charles Steinmann, and Dafna and Chris Zilafro.

Also in the crowd were Julie and Taylor Browman, Sue and Giampiero Capelli, Susan and Spencer Croul, Tommaso DeVecchi, Cindy and Steve Fry, Uri and Marianne Litvak, Sherri and Samuel Mirejovsky, and Chereen and Larry Pasternack.

In an effort to attract the involvement and support of millennials, party organizers put together a separate event following the dinner that became a late-night lounge affair with more fabulous food, libations and live music for dancing into the night. They called it Art After Dark, and an entire new crowd started arriving around 9 p.m. in support of the museum.

Many of the attendees were the adult children of longtime museum benefactors. The best part was that they brought their friends, introducing them to the museum. Allison Adams, Lindsey Ayres, Nicole Bhathal, David Bunnell, Greg Cox, Peter Gilmour, Yili Huang, Babak Korashadi, Raymond Lee, Hector Lopez and Alissa McLarand were there for Art After Dark. Also dancing until the 1 a.m. hour were brother and sister Mia and Max VanBergh and good friend and recent fellow University of Arizona graduate Devon Wortmann.

Proceeds from the glamorous evening benefit OCMA art exhibitions and education programs. Thousands of Orange County students each year enjoy special gallery tours, lectures and hands-on programs.

THE CROWD runs Fridays. B.W. Cook is editor of the Bay Window, the official publication of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.