Bruce Edward Hart

Bruce was preceded in death by his parents, Eva O’Brien and Dudley Hart; his former wife of nearly 40 years, Joan M Hart (mother of his children); his son Paul D Hart; his sister Bonnie Bilger Youmell; and his beloved step-father Charles Bilger.

He moved to Middlefield CT in the early 1960s to raise his family when he started the first part of his career as a successful commercial Art Director in the Hartford CT area. Bruce worked with New England-based clients on logos, commercials and ads. Some of his logos are still used today. He also submitted numerous photos and artwork over the years to local art shows where many received awards.

In the late 1970s Bruce and his family relocated to Eastham MA. His career took him to General Housewares in Hyannis MA as an Art Director where he was able to lend his artist flare to dishware, mugs and trivets all decorated with his beautiful artwork. It was at this time that Bruce also started the Cape Cod mug series where his fine-line artwork depicted points-of-interest for each prominent Cape Cod town. The initial limited series of the mugs were sold through General Housewares and distributed commercially. Eventually the Cape town mug series grew to encompass most of the Cape towns. The full series were sold directly through his and his first wife’s, Joan’s boutique called Quahog Hollow as well as many gift shops throughout the Cape.

Bruce took his idea of the Cape Cod Town scenes on the mugs and branched out to silk screening his artwork onto fabric. The fabric was sewn into skirts, placemats, napkins, wall hangings and pillows. These were all hand silk screened, sewn locally and sold at Quahog Hollow, craft shows throughout the Cape as well as through mail order.

When Bruce retired from General Housewares, he continued on with his success through Quahog Hollow, which was eventually renamed to what is more currently known as Hart Design. Over the years, Bruce took the “Cape Code scenes” concept to off-Cape towns/cities of interest where he completed his fine-line artwork points-of interest of the area and applied it to housewares (rocks glasses, shot glasses, trivets, mugs) which included Duty Free, Logan Airport, Boston MA, Acadia National Park, ME gift shop, Sanibel & Captiva Islands FL gift shops, Marconi Museum, Chatham MA, Orchard House, Concord MA and the Ford’s Theatre Museum, National Historic Site, Washington DC gift shop.

Bruce was the founder and first President of the Cape Cod Corvette Club. If you knew Bruce, you know he had a passion for his vettes and was proud to be a member of this elite group of people.

Bruce was also known for his humor and pranks. A couple of the older grandkids will tell you a tale of a small plastic toy fish that was set on the counter by a sink at bedtime which grew into a monstrous alligator spilling out of the sink by morning. Some of us can attest to the beast that grew out of a small toy as not necessarily a tale but actual truth. Bruce never did share if he had anything to do with this. And then there was the famous Golden Egg only laid and hunted for on Easter morning. It was magical for all who have stories around this egg as we were convinced Bruce had a direct connection to the Easter Bunny. There are many stories, classic sayings and adventures that will remind us of Bruce for all-of-time.

Bruce is survived by his wife of 21 years, Jacqueline Kimball Hart. They made their home in Orleans MA. He is also survived by his children Bruce D Hart and his wife Ana of Tucson AZ, Kimberly A Hart of East Haven CT and Brian D Hart and his wife Carleen of Millbrae CA; his step-children Christopher Reynolds and his wife Hillary of Nantucket MA, Meghan Reynolds DeMarco and her husband David of Harwich MA; his brother (Frank) William Bilger of Meriden CT; his brother-in-law Ronald Herath of Willison VT; 9 grandchildren: Maxine, Melissa, Paul C, Taylor, Casey, Benjamin, Emma, Grace & Raelyn as well as 5 great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.