[3] In 1976, Van Alstine was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, where he taught drawing and sculpture through 1980.

He moved to Washington, D.C. and joined the faculty of the University of Maryland in College Park in 1980, where he taught in the art department through 1986.

The following year he purchased a 19th-century industrial complex on the banks of the Sacandaga River and in 1991 returned to the Adirondacks, where he works in the restored historic structure.

Inspired by his travels to England, Mexico and the American west, he created works that together with their impressive scale, placement and design, simultaneously combine aspects of astronomy, physical science and contemporary art.

[7] "In our contemporary society we often lose sight of the natural occurrences that once impacted our ancestors and played an important role in shaping our collective conscious.

This project offers the viewer an opportunity to regain awareness of these fundamental rhythms that continue to subconsciously shape our lives," Van Alstine wrote in 1986.

[8] Responding to a specific site in Texas, Van Alstine created his first "celestial" sculpture using the calendar to connect art and science on the Austin College campus near Dallas.

In contrast to the typically long and drawn out creation of one sculpture, he is attracted to drawing precisely because it is immediate and tactile and allows an important opportunity to experiment with color.

[10] John Dorsey, staff art critic for the Baltimore Sun wrote, "Van Alstine's jaunty drawings recall his sculptures; they also exhibit a line reminiscent of Claes Oldenburg's, combined with sensitive use of color.

[14] Created in the late 1970s early 1980s when Van Alstine was in the western U.S., the Easel Landscape Series was a site-specific installation project designed to question and examine the accepted convention of frame as "signal" or "sanctioning" device for art.

[12] The photographs, shot in the field with a medium format film camera, were created before the days of Photoshop and easy digital photo manipulation.

Artforum Magazine wrote, "Color photography's relationship to the other arts is investigated in John Van Alstine's landscapes.