Local artist Birdie Busch with the ‘Who’s Your North Star?’ Liberty Bell. (Photo: Arekusn; provided by Busch)

Germantown-based artist and musician Birdie Busch grew up in South Jersey and moved to Philadelphia in 2001. She lived in neighborhoods across the city before settling in Germantown in 2014.  

Since moving to Philly, Busch has been deeply involved in the music scene. During the lockdown, when performing at venues wasn’t an option, Busch began to explore visual arts. 

During the lockdown, Busch became acquainted with public art when she assisted with the wall painting of the Brighten the Corners mural on Queen Lane. There, she also got a “crash course” in custom color mixing, a skill she used in this year’s “Bells Across PA” installation. 

Bells Across PA places festively painted Liberty Bell replicas across PA state to honor America’s 250th Birthday. It’s a statewide initiative led in partnership by America250PA and Mural Arts Philadelphia, and there are 24 across Philly, with one in Germantown.

With high confidence from the last mural project, Busch applied when Creative Philadelphia put out a call for artists. She was then assigned to Coleman Library. There, she worked with the community to come up with a concept for the bell — a requirement for the project.

Busch said this project challenged her and gave her the chance to examine the role of community in American neighborhoods like Germantown.

Busch’s bell, ‘Who’s Your North Star?’, sits at the entrance of Joseph E. Coleman Library and features the North Star and nods to many Germantown staples like the Wyck House and Sun Ra.

Busch recently spoke with GIH, elaborating more about the installation.

GIH: What were the planning/initial stages like before starting the project? 

Busch: I knew through the description of the call that there would be multiple community meetings and it would be a community-led design. While I have an artistic style and I have some ideas myself, the design was very much led through community input. 

I created a multipage packet that I brought to the community meetings that had some general jumping-off points involving Germantown and Germantown history. There were certain things that were just practicalities: the bell was going to be located in an area that had full sun all day.

So even though I mostly work in collage, I didn’t feel comfortable involving things that required adhesive. So I ended up working in collage in pre-design before translating to acrylic paint for the final.

Q: What was the inspiration behind the art featured on the bell? 

Busch: I am someone who is very inspired by textiles and quilts. I knew there was American history, but I was hesitant for the bell to become a literal translation of what you’re seeing around you — just hyperrealist imagery. 

I felt it was important to focus on Germantown’s history of abolitionists and the Underground Railroad, especially in the context of the President’s context of what’s going down at the President’s House, and across the board [this idea] was not disputed in the community. 

Q: What was it like working on this bell? 

Busch: It’s a little bit of everything when you’re working in a context where there’s a lot of moving parts and a lot of different parties organizationally. And you’re working in a bit of a wide open concept. 

During a time where there’s lots of complexities to celebrating ourselves as both a nation and community — and that wasn’t lost on me. 

I felt the need to be in the mix of a space in which, for this project, there were like 20-plus artists in one warehouse space working on different bells for different neighborhoods. And I was really desiring to work on a project that involved a lot of different people with different artistic approaches and backgrounds.

That was something I felt in an era of isolation and polarization is very important. 

Q: Is there anything about your time in Germantown that inspired you to join this project? 

Busch: Inspired by the elders, who really ensure thoughtful community-based programming, and seeing how civic engagement is not easy. The elders at Hansberry Community Garden, building a world within worlds of literal abundance and free programming. 

Even Coleman Library. I mean, I could go on naming the many public spaces. I’ve always appreciated the passion in our neighborhood, the creativity, and the refusal to accept pigeonhole definitions of ourselves. 

In this neighborhood, I have been inspired by people who have such a great vision for themselves and the people around them. 

Q: What has been the response from Germantowners in coming up with a concept for the bell?

Busch: Once we settled on the North Star concept, I originally put a single person stargazing on the bell, but the community wanted to see a group of people. They feel surrounded by people that they can go to when they need, and I feel that deeply with my friends and community here. 

With the color palette, making sure there was a vibrancy to it was also echoed in the review. 

Q: What were some of the other ideas for this project that maybe weren’t so popular? 

Busch: Months leading up to the project, I really fleshed out, conceptually, what I was thinking about. 

I went into it with a collage of different ideas like the neighborhood botanical to neighborhood history, and I had the North Star quote referenced in that collage. 

I went back between the meetings and focused on the meeting between the North Star, the Johnson House direction, and the logo is very much about North Star, and I wanted to echo that theme. 

I had some other designs that were a bit more busy. I was trying to incorporate everything from high school logos to notable people from the neighborhood. 

It was just kind of like, where do you end? There’s so much, so it’s tough. 

Q: Can you explain the significance of the North Star to this project?

We wanted something rooted in historical context but also bringing up the question of ‘Who’s your North Star?’ Who is that person that keeps us inspired, passionate, and upholds everything from our wellbeing to our fight for equality? 

And that can be an individual or the entire community.

But within the points of the star, there are different things referenced within the neighborhood from Wyck House Roses to the Aces Museum to Sun Ra. 

Q: When did you first learn about the North Star? 

It’s possible that it was as early as elementary school. But I’ve always been into reading and writing, and I graduated college with a degree in writing and literature — particularly with a love of American literature from the late 1800s to the 1960s.

Which I read a lot during my time in college in Miami. You learn a lot about the North Star and American history through fictional works. 

There’s something plainspoken about [contemporary American literature], but very emotional, immediacy of the words and emotions in.

Q: Do you consider yourself patriotic? Is it a word friends would use to describe you or is it something that only comes out on holidays? 

I would not say I’ve heard someone describe me as patriotic. I am extremely passionate about being engaged in life and within my community.

I think it’s important as artists to work in contexts that don’t always feel easy or exactly what you’re comfortable in. I have a lot of heroes or artists that have inspired me and have involved themselves in many different contexts, from postage stamps, things that bridge the public civic world with a very personal one.

I think it’s important to stay connected to the idea of a society that you believe in. I think a lot of people – myself included- can feel very discouraged in staying the course of connection, joy, and the complexities of everything that’s come before us.

I realize the importance of participation. I see the good and the bad in our system, but at the end of the day I think it’s really important to show up.

Deesarine Ballayan is a Liberian-American freelance journalist from and based in Philadelphia. Her work is featured in The Philly Download, the Logan Center, CSIS, The Philadelphia Citizen, and Billy Penn @ WHYY.