Omaha artist to exhibit work at College of Saint Mary

OMAHA, Neb. – Omaha artist Mike Loftus will showcase a collection of his artwork at College of Saint Mary’s Hillmer Art Gallery. The exhibit will include 20 to 25 oil paintings and oil pastel drawings. Artwork will be on display starting Monday, Jan. 24th, with a reception planned from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 3rd.

Loftus has been working and exhibiting as a visual artist in Omaha since the late 1980s. Initially working with acrylics and chalk pastels and exploring themes related to faith and mental health in the early 1990s, Loftus began to focus his work on his four children, but still with an emphasis on matters related to faith and the uncertainty of life and the hereafter, in the early to late 2000s.

Loftus, who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Nebraska Omaha, later returned to school to earn a degree in special education. That also influenced his artwork as he explored themes related to his nearly three decades of teaching people with developmental disabilities.

The Omaha artist said he views his work as a metaphor for empathy. “Be it an owl, a landscape, a flower or even what may appear to be a tragic character, all images are meant to evoke sympathy and perhaps a state of spiritual empathy with the viewer,” he said.

Loftus has exhibited his work in other cities, including Seattle, Chicago and Minneapolis. In recent years, he’s primarily shown his work in Omaha.