Oates has a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design and M.F.A from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Oates currently resides and works in Brooklyn, NY. Oates has had solo shows at venues including Real Art Ways, A4L Gallery, A Taste of Art Gallery, Sara Nightingale Gallery and the Sol Mednick Gallery at the Philadelphia University of the Arts.
In 2009, Oates had a solo shows at Tomasulo Gallery in New Jersey, a three person show at Mad Art Space in Missouri and in 2010 Oates has a solo show at the Center for Book Arts in NYC and group shows at F(r)iction Project in Brooklyn and at the Gwen Frostic School of Art Gallery in Michigan. Recently her work was featured on the Bomb Magazine Blog, in the Tampa Review, Diffusion Magazine, NY Arts Magazine, The Riverdale Press, St.Petersburg Times and Art Squeeze.
In February 2009, Oates's work was included in "Trouble in Paradise" curated by Julie Sasse at Tucson Museum of Art in Arizona which includes work by Mitch Epstein, Kim Keever, Richard Misrach, Edward Burtynsky and Thomas Ruff. In 2009 Oates was part of group shows at the Aqua Art Fair and and C. Emerson Fine Arts in Florida and in NYC at Randall Scott Gallery, Michael Mazzeo Gallery, Collective Gallery 173-171, The Pool Art Fair, The Bridge Art Fair.
Oates has been in numerous group exhibitions at venues including Flux Factory, Wave Hill, International Print Center, Storefront for Art, Proteus Gowanus, Nurture Art Gallery, Elizabeth Heskin Contemporary, Gallery Aferro, Metaphor Contemporary Art and The Center for Book Arts and internationally at the Royal Scottish Academy & Open Eye Gallery in Scotland, Open Studio Gallery and Spin Gallery in Toronto, Galerie Joella and Turku City Art Museum in Finland, Swinton Art Centre and University of Northampton Art Gallery in England and at NEME and The National Centres of Contemporary Art in Russia and Cyprus.
Work by Oates was recently featured in American publications the Daily Constitutional, Zingology Online Arts Magazine, Studio Views Magazine and The Drain Journal of Contemporary Arts Magazine and in Lirvraison Rhinoceros from Belgium and Front Magazine from Toronto. Oates's work has been mentioned in The Village Voice, Umbrella Magazine, NY Arts Magazine,The Southampton Press and the Chicago Reader. Her work has been featured on the movie sets of Perfect Strangers, The Forgotten, Little Children and Rabbit Hole and on the TV sets of of Law and Order and Lipstick Jungle.
In 2008, Oates photographed in Newfoundland, Canada and in Beijing, China. Oates has attended residencies at the Ragdale Foundation in Illinois, the Caldera Foundation in Oregon, and The Taipei Arts Village in Taiwan. She is the recipient of several awards including a Fulbright Fellowship for study in Scotland, two Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Grants, an honorable mention for Hey Hot Shot from Jen Bekman Gallery and an Artists Grant from Artist Space in NYC.
OatesÕs work is in the private collections of Julianne Moore, Ruben Natal, Susan Bode-Tyson, Bill Groom, Laurence Asseraf, Natalie Domchencho and Mark Waskow and her works on paper are in many public collections including the National Museum of Women in the Art, The Brooklyn Museum, The British Library, The Walker Art Center Libraries, The Smithsonian Libraries and Franklin Furnace at MoMA.