Notre Dame grad student envisions restoring Liberty Bell

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Benjamin Sunderlin is good at finding parallels between the Liberty Bell's popular crack and Americans' broken faith in the democratic system.

For example, the Jefferson High School graduate said, bells have two voices.

The symbolic voice - the ideas of freedom, independence and democracy attached to the Liberty Bell - is important. But so is the literal sound the bell makes when struck.

But for more than a century, the Liberty Bell has been silent.

"Today, (the Liberty Bell has) lost one of its voices, much like our sense of democracy or the way we maintain ourselves," Sunderlin told the Journal & Courier (http://on.jconline.com/1vStbZ4 ) in a phone interview. "We still maintain our freedom; our system is still working, but it is very fragile - much like the Liberty Bell."

Sunderlin, a graduate student in fine arts at the University of Notre Dame, will give his pitch on why America should rebuild the Liberty Bell Feb. 27 during a TED talk - a popular forum for discussion about the world's biggest issues - sponsored by the private school near South Bend.

"As long as our senses are associated and attached to one broken bell, I don't think we'll ever have the type of opportunity to reforge not only the bell but also what these components of liberty, freedom, independence really mean," he said.

Sunderlin believes he and his partner, JJ Smith, are the only ones in the country to forge bells using traditional methods, much like the means by which the Liberty Bell was crafted.

The process consists of using molds made from loam - a mixture of sand, clay, horse dung and hair - to cast molten bronze. It all takes place in a small foundry at Notre Dame, where he spends much of his time.

"It's something like microbrewing," he said. "A few decades ago, it was only these major brewers, but now regional variances and local cultures pop up."

High school art classes sparked Sunderlin's interest, pushing him to pursue his undergraduate degree at an art school in Houston, Texas.

While making ceramic bells in a sculpting class, Sunderlin said he became fascinated with them, especially their ubiquitous nature among a variety of cultures. Each uses bells for very similar purposes: to tell time or mark spiritual, religious or civic gatherings.

As his interest grew, the next logical step was to use bronze instead of clay.

"So I took one foundry class in my undergraduate university and ever since then, I was hooked," he said. "I knew that I had to push this craft and this interest further."

Sunderlin expanded his expertise while researching traditional bell-making methods in Europe and studying at Notre Dame.

After acquiring an intimate knowledge of how they are made, Sunderlin found himself questioning the value of a cracked Liberty Bell and what it symbolizes: a system now broken.

During his TED discussion, he'll push the audience to ask the same questions, while imagining the potential impact of finally fixing the fractures.

"It's more important to us, it seems, as a broken bell than an actual working bell," he said. "So in my talk, I'm going to talk about what the future situation might be like. Could we even bring ourselves to (rebuild) it, and if we did, what would we use it for?"

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Information from: Journal and Courier, http://www.jconline.com