In fifty-seven years of professional work he executed over seventy-seven major sculpture and mural commissions for public spaces around the world. These included the international airports of Honolulu, Taipei and Los Angeles, the civic centers of Los Angeles, Newport Beach and Inglewood, and corporate centers in Taipei, Manila, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Honolulu and San Francisco. 

Van Sant had one-person exhibits in the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan. Van Sant’s professional skills and intellectual interests ranged from architectural design, city planning, art education and advanced technical invention, to large-scale flying sculptures (kites). His space-related art projects of the 1980’s led to his creation of The Earth From Space, the first satellite composite map of Earth. This was followed by the GeoSphere Globe and the Earth Situation Room installations in science centers in seven locations worldwide.   

He is known as the Father of Space Art and Modern Kite Making. 

Listed in the Smithsonian Archive of American Artists, Otis College of Art and Design. 

Recipient of the Leonardo Da Vinci Space Art Award, Canegie Mellon University.