A suit of armour tucked on a shelf and a mannequin with metal wings strung from the ceiling, Alanna Baird’s studio tells a lot of stories, but perhaps the loudest is that of sustainability.

Photo by Hailley Fayle (@hailley.hailley)

“Someone brought me a mannequin without arms. . .the suit of armour in the corner is for a Halloween costume made out of some scrap aluminum from a restaurant,” she says.

Known for her metal fish made from waste copper and tin, bags of metal are often dropped off at Alanna’s door and cat food lids have even arrived by mail; however, Alanna had not expected such a reaction to her art. “The very first one I did was very crude looking, but it got a lot of attention because of its environmental aspect. I hadn’t intended to make it out of recycled material. I happened to, but then it got so much attention because of that. It’s driven it so much further.”

Alanna has always used materials at her disposal. Inspiration for her tin fish came from peaking into her blue bin. “The lids were all sitting in my bin and I went oh, fish scales.” Reducing her waste stream often influences her work. “I have one of those big clear leaf bags full of orange juice bottles that are just from two of us using orange juice from the store, and if I stuck the bottles in the bin each week and they disappeared from my life I wouldn’t be nearly as horrified as I am now when I look at this huge bag that I’ve generated. So now I’m going to cut them up and make things out of them.”

Already she has made a template of a turtle shell out of the old plastic. “That one showed me how to stitch it, so now I can stitch a copper version with old telephone wire.”

Alanna’s studio is home to many reused products—a bead roller made from a recycled skateboard wheel, a Princess Auto work bench transformed into a pushable market cart, complete with bike wheels and an attachable umbrella- and the story continues outside. Slanted at a 45-degree slope to allow snow to slush off, Alanna’s studio roof is home to a large set of solar panels delivering power to both home and studio.

“Charging the average mobile phone for one month uses 2.65 kilowatt hours of energy,” explains Alanna. Her system came online August 16th and in one month has generated almost a thousand-kilowatt hours. On a grid-tied system there are no storage batteries, but the excess power generated in the hotter months can be banked with the power company to offset the darker months of the year. Having also purchased a heat pump, Alanna notes that her power bill last month was less than a quarter of what it was a year ago.

Alanna’s upcycling and environmental alternatives began as a way to offset costs and continue in the creative field. Though the steps she has taken in her life and practice may not have stemmed from an environmental agenda, Alanna understands that alongside the cost-saving advantages there is the overwhelming truth that “it’s just the right thing to do.”

“I think having been in a creative environment my whole career, you’re just more aware of those kinds of choices. . .My practice isn’t entirely eco, but I can offset the electricity I use for cutting metal by using scrap metal. So yes, I have footprint on the earth, but it’s not as big as it could be.”

Alanna’s studio is a testament to the little choices that can make a difference. Though the goal of complete sustainability may feel unattainable, a single change can help. Standing in her studio, where clusters of cat food lids hang on wire like caught fish—silver, gold, green, and blue—I wonder what art might be found in my own recycling bin.

See more of Alanna Baird’s work at tinfish.ca and on Insta at @alannabaird . Her new series Urchins is being exhibited in a virtual exhibition from The George Fry Gallery launching Sept 03 at 4:30pm here.

[Sustainable Studios] Meaghan Laaper | Peering into the Blue Bin with Alanna Baird

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