Kathleen is one of the most important artist to emerge from Utopia. She is from a family of rich artistic talent which includes her sister Gloria Petyarre. Kathleen paints in a unique style that is instantly recognisable, layering intricate dots with rich colours to create powerful images. She paints both bush seed dreaming as well as women hunting, but it is her mountain devil lizard dreaming for which she is best known. This Dreaming tells of the need to heed the knowledge of elders and to exist as a group rather than individuals, a topic that was of the utmost importance to the nomadic desert people. Her work has been exhibited and collected by museums and collectors both domestically and abroad.