ABOUT | Kat VanCleave
[A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME…]
Hi, I’m Kat! An NYC-based Artist & Creative Director crafting stories through film, photography & art.






THE STORY
These days, a lot of my time is spent in a film studio, but I’ve been a studio rat my whole life. As a dancer, the studio meant perseverance, discipline and grace. This is where I fell in love with movement, the human body & our ability to transform a single gesture into a compelling story. This obsession bled naturally into the architectural studio, where I learned how to craft the built environments with tools like rhythm, form, shape, and color to articulate intimacy and narrative at the level of the human experience. It’s also where I was first introduced to Commedia Dell’Arte which, in retrospect, was one of the springboards that led to the soft spot for parody & satire that you’ll see in my screenplays & films today.
To date, I've helmed the designs of 40+ films including feature films, short films, TV pilots, web-series, music videos and branded content. I’ve had the esteemed honor to collaborate with industry leaders like John Cena, Jodie Turner Smith, Destry Allyn Spielberg, HBO, Apple, Google, NVIDIA, & Gensler to name a few. While moonlighting as an architectural designer in 2015, I spent 3 months in the Himalayas designing the primary residence for Their Majesties, The King & Queen of Bhutan. I know, real life #queenstatus
But my first real teacher was Mama Earth. As a Colorado kid, the mountains taught me the power of scale, the magical quality of light as it kisses the horizon & the most delicious shade of powdery white snow. It made me feel tiny but a part of something big. It made me hungry for adventure, taught me how to play hard & gifted me with a certain fearlessness of getting my hands dirty. Nature also wedged me smack dab in the middle of my family. A true middle child, I have a knack for finding connection where there’s friction, I am a seasoned negotiator & an invested collaborator from the jump.
I’m nothing if not in motion & I invite you to share the next dance…