was called the “Woodward 
Windows Project.” She 
and her friends would 
find abandoned stores in 
Downtown Detroit and turn 
them into art installations. 
“I was always into The 
Rugrats growing up,” 
O’Malley said. “I loved the 
Klasky-Csupo artwork, and 
the grandparents on the 
show were super endearing. 
Right now, I’m into old 
Disney and Looney Tunes 
cartoons from the 1930s and 
1940s. I love the style of the 
painterly background with 
graphic characters in front.
“Old animation is such a 
beautiful art form.”
O’Malley, who attended 
Andover and Lahser 
high schools, now both 
discontinued, entered 
informal art workshops once 
held near where she was 
living. When she was 15, 
O’Malley went to Idyllwild 
Arts Summer Program in 
California.
O’Malley left Michigan 
for New York when she was 
18 and attended the School 
of Visual Arts. Next was 

a move to California and 
attendance at the California 
College of the Arts, where 
she earned a bachelor’s of 
fine arts degree. 
A home studio is where 
the artist does much of her 
work.
“I have turned my 
drawings into all kinds of 
illustrations and sell them 
on eCommerce,” she said. 
“I rent my artwork to put 
on products. Because we 
live in this increasingly tech 
world, I think there’s really 
something special about the 
handmade. 
“I think it’s important 
to keep that alive. It gives 
future generations a chance 
to get off their phones and 
draw and think about the 
world around them and 
what they personally want to 
say that’s unique.”
The artist visits Michigan 
about once a year to see 
a brother living in Royal 
Oak and her father living 
in Northern Michigan. 
Her mother has moved to 
Florida. Favorite places for 
the artist have included 

Marvin’s Marvelous 
Mechanical Museum, 
in the past visited with 
grandparents, and Leo’s 
Coney Island. 
Traveling is a favorite 
pastime. 
“I love to see the world,” 
said the single O’Malley, 

who visited a friend in 
Kenya earlier this summer. 
“When I was younger, I 
used to make some money 
and take off for months at a 
time. When I was 20, I made 
it from England to Romania. 
Art, travel and the people I 
love are what I live for.” 

SEPTEMBER 21 • 2023 | 51

Details 
The art of Danielle 
O’Malley will be shown 
at the Funky Ferndale 
Art Fair held Sept. 
22-24 along Nine Mile 
Road and Woodward. 

Danielle 
O’Malley

“McDonald’s 
Peace 
Theory” 8x11

