Margaret Oakley’s work spans a range of media including mycelium-based sculpture, installation, site-specific intervention, textiles, video, and a mixed media painting practice that explores poetic expressions of nature. Of central importance is Oakley’s consideration of the Self as a collection of fluid processes (thoughts, feelings, actions) moving through time. Oakley’s work strives for a material synthesis that is rooted in fundamental concepts of ecology such as interspecies community, biodegradability, foundational forms of nourishment, and life-sustaining processes that are often invisible to us in contemporary life. Oakley began her creative practice in landscape design, working for more than a decade on California native landscapes both private and public, working with agencies such as California State Parks. The wisdom of plant communities and the notion of the garden as a site for connection and contemplation continue to inform her fine art practice. Oakley is a graduate of UCLA (BA), UC Irvine (MFA) and is currently Associate Professor of Art at Santa Monica College.