Isabel Oleas obtained her M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Delaware. Her main specialty is the art and material culture produced in the Spanish Colonial Americas-- Quito in particular. Her research focuses on the artistic expressions of religious devotion and addresses aspects of patronage, reception, and invention. Her current research project studies with the use of reflective surfaces in churches and female convents.

Isabel has published her work in the journals Latin American & Latinx Visual Culture, and Religion and the Arts, and has presented at various national and international venues, such as The Americanist Art Symposium at Yale University, The I International Symposium of Colonial Latin American Art at University of Florida, and King's College at University of Cambridge. She is also the recipient of various fellowships including a Fields of the Future Mellon Fellowship, a NEH Research Fellowship, and a Fulbright scholarship.