Back at Sculpturewalk after a four-year absence, Columbia Valley native, Cajsa Fredin, again combines her metalworking talents with her penchant for found objects. The centrepiece of Petal To The Metal is a donated bicycle enhanced by her brilliantly coloured metal flowers.

“This piece is about letting go, leaving your worries behind and getting out of wherever you’re at,” she says. “It’s all about the emotions, the love, joy and laughter that accompanies the feeling of freedom from letting it all go.”

Using old farm equipment, shovels, sewing machine parts and other found objects to augment her funky ride, Fredin has fabricated her trademark colourful flowers to float high above the handle bars, not unlike a cluster of balloons. Blue, green, red and yellow flowers in various styles, shapes and sizes rise triumphant overhead.

“I’m encouraging people to get on, have a laugh, lose themselves for a bit and post pictures on Instagram using #petaltothemetalbc@castlegarsculpturewalk,” she says.

“One of the things I want to invoke is the idea of play, something adults don’t seem to do very much. That certain excitement that comes with new or special experiences, so common when we’re young, that is what I want to relay with this work.”

If Petal To The Metal sells, Fredin plans to donate a portion to Bike It Forward, a non-profit that fixes up old bikes and then gives them to people in need, in communities throughout Canada. They provided the bike frame for this sculpture.

She grew up in the Columbia Valley, earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Calgary and then returned home, settling in Invermere. She is co-owner of a gallery/studio – Black Star Studios – and is always creatively busy. That is, when she isn’t out hiking the mountains and backcountry all around her.

“Getting out there is inspirational on a daily basis. I try to channel that in my sculptures.” She succeeds wonderfully with Petal To The Metal. Her blend of re-purposed metal and vibrant flowers combine to offer up an escape and the pleasure that comes with it.

www.matsdottermetals.com