Lenka Clayton in “Human Nature”

Video without descriptive audio available here.

The sound of striking keys echoes as artist Lenka Clayton improvises a drawing of a vase on a typewriter. This practice exemplifies her uniquely playful approach that runs through her video, sculpture, and public artworks. “Looking at things that are supposed to behave a certain way and purposefully misunderstanding how they should be used, it’s really important to me,” says Clayton. This documentary short tracks the artist as she transforms unexpected objects and encounters into art, whether it is creating new works using the experience of motherhood as a material or building a lighthouse hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean. Collaborating with her husband, artist Phillip Andrew Lewis, her children, and the members of her community in Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill neighborhood, Clayton uses art to highlight the beauty of human connection and the everyday.