McCleary is self-taught and has learned to make her home goods through trial and error. Her drive to create is fueled by passion as well as necessity. “When you're isolated on the reservation,” she says, “you don't have access to just be like, ‘hey, I'm going to run to Walmart because I need a new shoe rack!’ You have to get creative and start making stuff.” In addition to the practical nature of her work, creating her own home goods allows her to infuse her culture into her daily life and aesthetics. Shoe racks with Apsáaloke designs aren’t available at Walmart or Target after all!  

McCleary is inspired to create by her mother. “My mom is super creative,” she says. “She makes all kinds of stuff. She's made doll houses, little furniture, Barbie furniture out of pool noodles. And it looks really, really nice.” One time, she watched her mom build a shed – a big, nice one – through trial and error and sheer determination. Watching her mom do that showed McCleary that you don’t need professional training to build something incredible: “I was like dang, you know, you can just do all kinds of stuff. We’d always have really second-hand tools. But we’d always make it work.”

Although she is also an accomplished beader, McCleary has focused more on creating home goods since she has two babies and three older children at home. “It’s hard to bead with kids. I can get all my stuff out and just do woodwork and smaller projects with the babies around, versus the chaos of having a bunch of beads out.” In addition to her woodworking, she creates designs freehand or using tools such as Microsoft Word and Paint, then uses an online program to print them onto fabric.

McCleary’s profession as a counselor also motivates her to create. “Because I am in the mental health field,” she notes, “I think art and being connected to your culture is super important -- any way that you want to exhibit, display, or perform it; any way that you want to practice it.  Even if it’s making little knickknacks every Wednesday night on Bead Night, that's a big form of self-care and mental health support. Getting time for yourself and centering yourself is incredibly important.”

She describes how Bead Night, in particular, is helpful for mental health: “Counseling is all relationship based. You build a relationship with a counselor, so you're able to confide in them. It creates that feeling of being released from trauma. And the same thing is happening on Bead Night -- the same kind of relationship-based methodology.”  

McCleary is a driven artist with lots of initiative. With whatever materials she has on hand, you can be sure she will create something unique and beautiful.