Lives and works in Los Angeles, California
Contact: studio@margaretoakley.com Instagram: @margaretoakleyhere
Education
2022 University of California, Irvine - MFA in Visual Art
2009-2018 Santa Monica College Art Department
2006 University of California, Los Angeles - BA in English Literature, Creative Writing (Poetry)
Solo Exhibitions
2022 Dolphins Swimming in the Cracks of Sidewalks, Contemporary Arts Gallery, UC Irvine
2018 Coyote Winter, Rio de Los Angeles State Park
Group Exhibitions
2026 Living Echoes, Art Faculty Show, Pete and Susan Barrett Gallery, Santa Monica California
2026 There Used to be Millions, CARS, Santa Monica California
2026 Under One Roof, Curated by Peter Frank, Aiport Arts Center, Santa Monica, California
2025 Materials and Processes for An Expanding World, Curated by Soft Systems, Plot Los Angeles
2024 WHIPLASH, Airport Arts Center, Santa Monica, California
2022 GLAMFA, California State University Long Beach SOA Art Galleries
2021 ULTRA!, Torrance Art Museum
2021 Please Wait Here, UC Irvine Contemporary Arts Center Gallery
2018 Popularity and Realism, Curated by Meg Cranston, Santa Monica College Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery
Residencies
2024-Present, 18th Street Art Center, Santa Monica, California
Public Projects & Community Collaborations
2026 Santa Monica Mountains Fund Climate Action Corps Fellows. Microforest Print Collaboration: created and donated a limited edition of botanical pressed flora and watercolor prints, with plants from the Santa Monica Microforest, with proceeds supporting environmental programming.
Press & Interviews
Meet Margaret Oakley, Bold Journey (2026) '
Lectures, Artist Talks & Conference Presentations
June 2021, International Research Collective Time of Monsters. Presentation of my ongoing thesis research and the development of Dolphins Swimming in the Cracks of Sidewalks
May 2021, The Sea: Mobility, Ingenuity, and Ecology in the Early Modern World, UCI/UCLA graduate student conference. Presentation of Paper: Expanded Perceptions: Water Through the Microscope and Alternative Notions of Subjecthood
March 2020, Getty Research Institute Graduate Scholars Program, Art & Ecology, Seminar led by James Nisbet, University of California Irvine
Awards and Fellowships
2026, City of Santa Monica Individual Artist Grant
2021, Medici Scholarship, Claire Trevor School of the Arts, University of California, Irvine