'Doll Lady' is no dummy

Cherrie Williams has found a way to help combat the crime wave sweeping over Oakland's streets. She fights crime by making dolls.

Williams, known as the "Doll Lady" to some and the "Singing Domestic" to others, is an Oakland artist and performer who makes and sells colorful multicultural dolls out of "found" objects and trash from Oakland's streets. The tiny dolls measure about 1 " long and bear simple messages like "Hi" and "Love."

Through the sale of her dolls and other hand-made folk art, Williams funds annual concerts showcasing art and performances by local youth and other artists. Her goal is to encourage creativity and thereby discourage violence among youth who are so often short-changed by limited arts funding in public schools.

Williams explains that finding an outlet for creative expression can offer kids a sense of purpose and raise their self-esteem. This level of self-realization is what she describes as someone's "Why," "Your 'Why' is your voice-your talent, purpose, passion. I found my Why and now I'm on fire!"

The Oakland artist can often be found selling her dolls throughout the area-on Piedmont Ave, or the bustling corner of 39th & Macarthur, which she describes as her "Magic Spot." This corner is where Williams earned the title "Doll Lady," after becoming a staple to regular passerby.

"The magic spot is where I met myself, and where I learned to turn adversity around," she explains.

Williams spends some of her time on the Laney campus, where she can sometimes be found in the Student Center selling dolls and engaging with the swift current of passing students.

In a recent visit to the Student Center, the Doll Lady sat strategically at a table which shouldered the lunch line, "I've got dolls for sale, help stop violence!" she called out. Students of all ages stopped to look; many intrigued by the colorful and strikingly cute dolls that Williams had affixed to a display board.

"I've got Mama (dolls), Little Mama, and Hoochie Mama!" she announced to a woman who paused at her display. The woman laughed, taken by Williams' genial disposition, while politely declining her offer.

"I want to be known not as a starving artist, but a giving artist," Williams stressed. This desire to give is where "Domestics Unlimited" came into play. In 1984, the young entrepreneur started Domestics Unlimited as a community service program to provide nanny and maid services to single parents and elderly.

Decades later, around 2003, Williams was aware of the high level of youth violence in the Oakland area. In response to the violence, which she saw as a product of misplaced anger and frustration by its perpetuators, Williams reinvented Domestics Unlimited as a theatre group geared towards young performers and artists.

Using revenue from her art sales to pay the necessary deposits to rent various show and theatre spaces, she held her first show-"Stop the Violence-Music Heals" at Berkeley's Julia Morgan Center for the Arts in June 2003.

This June, Domestics Unlimited will hold its annual performance at Oakland's Humanist Hall at 390 27th St., where Williams will perform the character "Mrs. Hamilton," whom she describes as "A 1930s blast from the past who talks to youth about the good ol' days in contrast to modern society."

Williams plans to organize a 6-week art and improvisation summer camp for teens in June on a first-come, first-serve basis.

For more information about upcoming Domestics Unlimited events, visit www.domesticsunlimitedcherriewilliams.com or call 510-482-5810.