Bruce McCombs, professor of art at Hope College, has recently had his work featured in a variety of venues, including the Governor's Residence, a national publication and multiple exhibitions.

 Bruce McCombs, professor of art at Hope College, has recently had his work featured in a variety of venues, including the Governor's Residence, a national publication and multiple exhibitions.

He has had two pieces chosen for display in the Michigan Governor's Residence from August of this year through July 2009 through the Governor's Residence Artists Program.  Conducted by the program in conjunction with the Alden B. Dow Museum of Science and the Midland Center for the Arts, the jurying ran in three phases that culminated in selection of the works in the third round by the First Family.  McCombs's works both feature classic automobiles:  "Gulliver's Lincoln," a 22x28 black-and-white etching; and "Van Andel Museum," a 22x30 watercolor.

McCombs and his art were featured in a 12-page article published in the spring 2008 edition of "Watercolor" magazine, which notes that "Bruce McCombs uses bold drawing and heightened color to present a powerful and entertaining vision."  The text discusses his development as a watercolorist and his approach to the medium, with which he began working in 1982 during a sabbatical after 25 years as an etcher.  The 19 color illustrations include paintings of scenes as far away as San Francisco, Calif., and Paris, France, and as nearby as some familiar Holland locales such as 11th Street near the college's De Pree Art Center, the Holland Settler's House and private residences in the city's historic district.

He has also had work in a variety of recent exhibitions, including:  the "141st Annual International Exhibition," American Watercolor Society, The Salamagundi Galleries, New York City; the "2008 Biennial: Contemporary American Realism," Fort Wayne Art Museum, Fort Wayne, Ind.; the "88th Annual Exhibition," National Watercolor Society, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, Calif.; the "The Minnesota National Print Biennial," Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.; and the "Missouri Watercolor Society National Exhibition," Winston Churchill Memorial and Library, Fulton, Mo.

McCombs has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1969. He actively displays his prints and paintings throughout the U.S. and around the world. His artwork has been procured by many permanent collections both nationally and internationally, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the National Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi, Vietnam.

He holds his B.F.A. from the Cleveland Institute of Art and his M.F.A. from Tulane University in New Orleans, La.