Katsuyo Aoki is best known for her ceramic sculptures that apply delicate, swirling forms to dark subject matter. Aoki trained first as a painter before taking up ceramic as her primary medium, though she sometimes creates abstracted images on her ceramic surfaces using glazes in monochromatic palettes.

Aoki is best known for her works in relief or in the round, and an ornate style that draws from a range of decorative styles. Her works often look radically different from varying perspectives. Frequently used motifs and forms include the skull, the crown, and dismembered parts of animals—allusions to historic narratives and mythologies.