Ma Ly is a Fresno, California based French artist and has been a professional painter and art instructor since 2011. Born in Laos of Hmong descent, Ma lived 30 years in France before settling in Central California in 2008. After managing his own art gallery/studio for 12 years, he "retired" in 2023 to focus on teaching in his home studio.
In 2016, Ma received the Horizon Award from the Fresno Arts Council and the Award of Arts from The Foundation @ Fresno County Office of Education. From 2011-2016 he was an art instructor at Fresno Adult School and at Michaels in Clovis, California. He was a judge for several art contests including the Arts Alive in Agriculture show sponsored by the Fresno Arts Council and the Congressional Art Competition supported by Congressman Jim Costa. From 2013-2016 he served as artistic director for the Art of Life® project that pairs cancer survivors with local artists to learn expression and healing through art. In 2014, he co-created the monthly event “Second Saturday Downtown Fresno” to promote the local arts culture. From 2016-2018, he served as the Artist Liaison at the M Street Arts Complex in downtown Fresno. In addition, he was the preparator for ArtHop at Fresno City from 2016-2020.
Ma teaches students to paint landscapes, flowers, seascapes, animals, and cityscapes. His award-winning paintings have been displayed in several local art venues including Fresno City Hall, the Fresno Water Tower, Chris Sorensen Studio, the Clovis Veterans Memorial District, the Fresno Memorial Auditorium, and the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of the San Joaquin Valley. His painting “Vernon Conrad: The Garden of The Old Man” (pictured on the right) was selected by former Senator Andy Vidak as the winning artwork representing Senate District 14 in the State Senate’s Contemporary Art Collection and was displayed in the State Capitol from May 2017 through September 2018.
Ma is also a sought after portrait artist. In 2021, he was commissioned by California State University, Fresno to paint the official portrait of Dr. Joseph I. Castro, former and eighth President of the university. In 2011, he completed a life sized posthumous portrait of the Hmong leader General Vang Pao for the memorial service held at the Fresno Convention Center. In 2013, the Fresno County Office of Education commissioned him to paint the portraits of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. In 2015, he painted the portrait of the late Fresno activist Betty Rodriguez on permanent display at the Betty Rodriguez Regional Library in Fresno, CA. Other paintings of significant cultural figures such as George Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr. are on display at local museums.
