Bart Vargas is Creating Space for Art, Identity and Community
For Bart Vargas, art has never been limited to what hangs on a gallery wall. A visual artist, educator, and advocate from Bellevue, Nebraska, Vargas has spent decades creating, teaching, and connecting people to the arts, both through his own work and by making sure others know what is happening in Omaha’s creative community.
Vargas earned his BFA from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and his MFA from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, with pieces held in collections across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He has been featured in publications such as Sculpture Magazine (Oct 2010) and New American Paintings (Issue 89).
While his artwork has taken him around the world, Vargas has maintained strong ties to Nebraska through education and arts advocacy. As Professor and Chair of the Visual Arts and Graphic Arts program at Iowa Western Community College (IWCC), he works closely with the next generation of artists. He has spoken about education as a way to help others find their voice in the arts and recognize that an art career is possible.
Beyond the classroom, Vargas also helps people stay connected to Omaha’s creative community through social media. Recognizing that no single place made it easy to find what was happening across Omaha’s creative community, Vargas began collecting local events and sharing them. His Patreon list highlights everything from visual art exhibitions and theater to music, literature, and cultural events, helping connect audiences with artists and organizations throughout the metro.
For Vargas, his Mexican American identity has also been part of a personal journey. He has spoken publicly about navigating his mixed Mexican American identity and how it took time for him to become comfortable with that part of himself. His involvement with ArteLatinX has provided a space for Vargas to explore identity through his work. He has described his Latinx identity as complex and said that, through his art, he can only represent his own story. As a longtime participant in the biennial exhibition, his work has explored themes of identity and his own Latino experience while contributing to wider conversations about how Latinx identity can be represented.
Vargas brings that same curiosity into his own studio practice. His work has explored discarded and everyday materials, repetition, consumption, and the ways ordinary objects can take on new meaning. In his 2024 exhibition MORE OF THE SAME at Petshop Gallery in Benson, Vargas presented dozens of collages and paintings alongside sculpture. The exhibition also reflected his longtime interest in collage and the joy he sees in students when they experiment with the medium. The following year, Vargas continued exploring his artistic approach in his solo exhibition, FLOW at the Radial Arts Center. The exhibition explored geometric abstraction through color and line, demonstrating how simple visual elements can still communicate an individual perspective.
Vargas’ impact reaches beyond his own artwork. It can be found in the students he teaches, the artists he helps spotlight, and the audiences he connects with local creative opportunities. Whether he is working in his studio, teaching in the classroom, or helping people discover what is happening across Omaha, Vargas continues to show how art can create connection, open doors, and give communities another way to see themselves.
