50 | SEPTEMBER 21 • 2023 

D

anielle O’Malley 
grew up in 
Michigan and 
became fascinated with the 
artistry of cartoons in her 
early childhood. As she got 
into school, O’Malley was 
carrying around a sketchpad 
and drawing images she 
considered takeoffs from 
her observations of those 
cartoons.
Now 35 and living 
in California, she has 
expanded artwork into 
her main focus and is 
returning to Michigan with 
between 20 and 30 projects 
to be shown at the Funky 
Ferndale Art Fair, which 
is running Sept. 22-24 
along Nine Mile Road and 

Woodward. 
“I always liked strong 
visuals,” said O’Malley, 
whose family artistry has 
been expressed by a San 
Francisco aunt, Maureen 
O’Malley, a photographer, 
and a Chicago cousin, 
Caitlin Ryan, a performance 
and video artist.
“I like to use a lot of 
acrylics and gouache, and 
my work has very weird 
and whimsical cartoons and 
surreal fantasies.”
Although artistic interests 
come from her father’s side 
of the family with an Irish 
Catholic heritage, O’Malley 
was raised in Jewish 
traditions learned and 
practiced by her mother’s 

family. The artist revealed 
that her mother’s maiden 
name was Fruman. 
“My mother’s family 
is Russian Jewish and 
includes people from 
Belarus, Ukraine, Romania 
and Moldova,” she said. 
“Someone from Ukraine had 
filled out my family tree, 
and I was able to connect 
with him because of stories 
in the Detroit Jewish News.”
Three paintings to be 
shown in Ferndale represent 
the thematic leanings of 
O’Malley’s artistry, which 
sometimes reflects the 
background described by 
her maternal heritage. She 
explains her art is not Judaic 
and does not reflect what 

she learned by attending 
religious school at Temple 
Beth El. 
“Baba Yaga’s House,” for 
example, is associated with 
remembrances of her late 
grandmother and ultimately 
has to do with connection to 
a witch presented in Slavic 
fairytales. “McDonald’s 
Peace Theory” is based 
on a mocked political and 
economic theory and has to 
do with themes of mother 
and child. “Garden of Eden” 
is described as a happier 
project that shows a fantasy 
landscape with imaginary 
creatures. 
While O’Malley was living 
in Michigan, she had shown 
her work in Detroit in what 

‘Weird and Whimsical’

ARTS&LIFE
ART

Danielle O’Malley to show her surreal art 
at the Funky Ferndale Art Fair.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

An acrylic 
painting: 
“The Garden 
of Eden”

