Katheleen Nez produces wheel-thrown functional stoneware pottery. The exteriors of her pieces are decorated with motifs adapted from prehistoric pottery of the southwestern United states - geometric designs from the Anasazi culture of the northern part of the region and animal forms from the Mimbres culture of southwestern New Mexico. She uses mineral paints and stains that fuse into the clay body when gas fired. To assure usability, interior surfaces are glazed.

Katheleen (Nez to her friends) is Navajo Indian from Tuba City, Arizona in the western part of the Navajo reservation. She grew up in California and attended college with the idea of going into medicine. While visiting friends in Santa Fe she applied and was accepted to the Institute of American Indian Arts. At first she concentrated on print making, but found she had a natural inclination to clay. She also studied ceramics at the Haystack Mountain School of Arts and Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine. She received her Associate in Fine Arts degree from I.A.I.A. in 1983.

"Certainly some of the most important influences on my work have come from my involvement in and around The Institute of American Indian Arts. I did not start out at I.A.I.A. with an interest in ceramics or any idea of becoming a potter. Early on I developed a respect for the functionality of clay and immersed myself in learning the intricate technology of high fire ceramics. I want to continue producing utilitarian work with a unique and aesthetic bent, maintaining and elaborating on the Anasazi and Mimbres decorative motifs."