[10][11] Following his parents emigration to Ontario, Canada, Van de Bovenkamp came to the United States to attend the University of Michigan in 1958.

Van de Bovenkamp moved to New York City and became a part of the 10th street gallery co-op movement following his graduation from the University of Michigan in 1961.

Van de Bovenkamp's works have been featured in ten museums, embassies, and sculpture center shows, as well as numerous universities, public gardens and institutes.

[9] Van de Bovenkamp received his first commission in 1966 to design a copper fountain made of cubist shapes for the Georgetown Plaza, at Eight Street and Broadway in Manhattan with his brother, Gerrit.

[13] The sculpture has intersecting curving pathways of metal near the ground, then sends dual angled shafts, symbolizing road travel, approximately forty feet into the sky.

[9] This project, Roadway Confluence, was funded primarily by private contributions with additional financial support from the state government.

Hans was influenced by the piled boulders and stones from Stonehenge in England, the Baths at Virgin Gorda, and desert landscapes and conservation areas worldwide.

Van de Bovenkamp's ideas about creating effect through scale were inspired by his studies of stele and other sculptural structures of ancient cultures during his travels to Mexico, North Africa, India, and Nepal.

[14] Van de Bovenkamp won the Sanctuary Design Competition sponsored by the Omega Holistic Health Institute, in Rhinebeck, New York in 1996.