Sculpture

Material Thresholds: Informing the In-Between

Jaeden Blewett

Exhibition

See it On Campus: Level 2

Libby Leshgold Gallery

Visitor Info

The core of my artistic practice is rooted in exploring the physicality of moving through space, and an acute awareness of how the body is shaped, constrained, and choreographed by the architecture around it. Throughout my thesis development, I examine how material, spatial, and architectural structures choreograph the body, and how sculptural interventions can expose, interrupt, or re‑script these systems. Because architectural frameworks quietly shape how bodies move, appear, and relate, I ask: how might sculptural installations reconfigure these forces? I aim to make perceptible the ways structures organize daily movement and visibility that are often rendered invisible.

Jaeden Blewett, In/Between/Outside: Three Volumes, 2026

My interest in embodiment and affect—the feelings, anxieties, and internalization of perceiving and being perceived—developed early through my extensive training as a figure skater. As a competitive athlete, I was taught to notice, evaluate, and correct my body as it moved through space. Refining my technique meant developing critical forms of dual awareness:1) the position and form of my body in the moment while anticipating and preparing for the next moment; and 2) the perception of my body from the inside-out, and an outside-in feeling of being perceived, evaluated, and corrected by coaches and judges. Every movement of my body was prescribed through a planned program, every transition scripted to appear effortless while being highly practiced and controlled. This training also informed my life off the ice, as I comfortably navigated the urban public spaces of Calgary, the city where I grew up.

Jaeden Blewett, In/Between/Outside: Three Volumes (detail), 2026

The origins of this installation are found in various expressions of “in-betweenness”—moments of dual-awareness— that I’ve come to understand as throughlines in my life and art practice. Through examining ideas of the internal and external, linking the formal decisions I make in my sculptures and my exploration of text with ideas of affect, anxiety, and embodiment. I explore the relationship between architecture, movement, and affect, and how this might be transcribed into the gallery.

Jaeden Blewett, I PLAY THE ROLE, 2025

Considering ideas of opacity and transparency in materials, I explore the link between visual aspects of my installations and the ways bodies navigate space. Finally, I explore the dual function of rigidity and pliability and the importance of structural elements in my practice that also function conceptually through gendered histories of material and craft.