Ralph Tarzian

November 6, 1923 - June 12, 2019 Ralph Tarzian was a sculptor. He died on June 12, 2019, peacefully, at the age of 95. His family revered him as a kind and loving war hero, artist, and scholar. He and his wife, Nancy, who died in 2011, leave behind 3 children, 6 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren. A resident of Laguna Beach since 1966, he was the patriarch of a family who relied on him as not only their moral compass, but as a source of artistic inspiration and unconditional love. Ralph was born in 1923 in Fresno, California, to Leo and Sona (Boyajian) Tarzian. His younger brother, Bob, was born shortly thereafter, once the family had moved to Long Beach. His parents were both the children of Armenian immigrants; Ralph was a proud child of the Armenian diaspora, embodying William Saroyan's observation: "For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia." Ralph was born an artist, painting, drawing, and sculpting since before he could remember. He attended Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, where he was a middling student but accomplished what would be the most important feat of his life: meeting Nancy. Ralph served in WWII as a corporal in the Air Corps Glider Division in New Guinea. In 1944, while building a landing strip, he was nearly killed in a construction accident and spent most of the next year in hospitals. Upon his return to Long Beach, he and Nancy rekindled their romance and were married in 1947. Ralph and Nancy had three children: Patrick, Pamela, and Stephen. As the family grew, Ralph's art career grew along with it. In 1966, Ralph and Nancy moved to Laguna Beach and Ralph established the sculpture department at Orange Coast College, where he was a professor of fine arts until he retired from teaching in 1984. Ralph and Nancy made annual pilgrimages to Pietrasanta, Italy, to work with Italian stone carvers who would become lifelong friends. These and other international travels informed his approach to sculpture and he increasingly began to show work in galleries throughout the Southland and beyond. He was a regular exhibitor at the Festival of the Arts, and served on the boards of the Laguna Art Museum and Long Beach Art Association, garnering awards for his work, public installations, and more recently, lifetime achievement recognition, including the 2010 Laguna Beach Art Alliance Art Star Lifetime Achievement Award. After retiring from teaching in 1984, Ralph began working solely out of his Laguna Canyon studio. He worked almost every day and loved the community of artists who sought him out as a mentor. His studio was a hub for grandchildren, artisans, and old friends. And if he wasn't poring over a piece of rock, trying to unwrap the hidden figure within, or building wax figures for his next bronze, he was operating some type of heavy equipment. Ralph worked from his studio until 2011, when Nancy died. With the loss of Nancy, and a broken heart, Ralph retired from public life at 88. He still reveled in friends, the art community, and his great-grandchildren. He was a treasure to his family and the Laguna Beach art community.