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. His work has also been featured in publications including Sculpture Magazine, New American Paintings, and HGTV Magazine.
While his artwork has taken him around the world, much of Vargas’ work continues to connect back to Nebraska. Through his role as an educator and arts advocate, he has helped create opportunities for students and make Omaha’s creative community easier to discover.
One example is the weekly arts and culture list Vargas has maintained for years. Recognizing that there was not one central place where people could easily find what was happening across Omaha’s creative community, Vargas began collecting local events and sharing them through social media. His 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.
His commitment to the next generation of artists is also visible in the classroom. Vargas serves as an educator at Iowa Western Community College, where he teaches and helps students develop their creative practices. He has also supported student artists through opportunities such as UNO’s Juried Student Exhibition, where he served as a juror.
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.
For Vargas, his identity as a Mexican American 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, an initiative highlighting Latino and Latin American artists in Nebraska, has provided another space for that identity and creative community to intersect.
That connection between identity, art, and community continued in Vargas’ 2025 solo exhibition FLOW at Radial Arts Center. The exhibition explored geometric abstraction through color and line, demonstrating how simple visual elements can still communicate an individual perspective.
Vargas’ legacy 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.
