Lets go back in time to Boston Massachusetts 1993 (dream sequence sound) I was in my early twenties living out in Brighton at the time. Similar to many young adults my friends were able to rent this huge house and filled it with creative types. They all piled into this giant home with a band practice room in the basement. I spent many a fun filled evening at this house, parties, dinners and everything in between. It was known as the “Big House” Groove Butcher was the house band and everyone was playing shows and involved in the in Allston scene, AKA “Rock City” It was a creative and exciting time so much was going on. On a particular day one of the house members came home with two garbage bags full of doll parts, heads legs bodies. Needless to say our creativity got the better of us and the crafting began.
Doll parts everywhere. Have you ever seen an illuminated strand of baby doll Christmas lights, nope? They’re awesome! The eyes would glow through the creepy flesh tone empty socket. Our savior Jesus Christ with a doll head helmet? Fu*%ing perfect! This went on for months until we had worked though our stash. We would plant doll heads in each others stuff, it wasn’t uncommon to open up your courier bag at work the next day to find a doll head in there, they were in the cabinets, baby doll hand drawer pulls, even in the shower, you name it.
During this time I was producing glass and working through my degree at Massachusetts College of Art. It seems that every artist goes through a doll part phase. It is such powerful iconic image, I mean they don’t even look like children; it’s just this ready-made weird symbolic form that says creepy innocence. At Mass Art I had access to foundry equipment as well as hot glass so it wasn’t long before I crafted a two-part metal blow mold to make glass baby heads. My original concept had a long stalk for the neck topped with a doll head which was to be clustered in groups, totally immature, but awesome. Naturally money was becoming a factor in my life and it wasn’t long before I was making and marketing the Baby Head Bong, complete with these two adorable little horns on it. The Baby Head Cups has served as a macabre canvas for a many decorations. I mean I’ve made baby head everything, decanters, goblets, baby head devil horns, and the clown, complete with a red nose. This mold has been a part of my tool kit for many years. During my time producing work for Dale Chihuly any glass start with a flaw in the decoration like a bubble or scar would get blown into the baby head mold producing drinking glasses for the crew. Ultimately we had this amazing collection of Baby Head Cups with Chihuly colors and decoration. It was silly; you could track his design progression just by looking in our cupboard. Writing this piece makes me realize this Baby Head Cup thing I have created is so much bigger than me. Thankfully I copyrighted them years ago. –Oliver Doriss
