What does it look like when someone stops performing a version of themselves and fully becomes who they always were?

Stephanie Kluk is the founder of Future Ink Graphics (FIG) — a silkscreen printmaking studio, community gallery, and creative incubator based in Cleveland, Ohio. She has spent over 20 years working in the arts, and FIG is her most personal work yet. Built not because the city asked for it, but because she needed it. And then realized everyone else did too.

In this episode of The Creative Odyssey Podcast, host Sheran Ranasinghe sits down with Stephanie Kluk at Future Ink Graphics for one of the most honest conversations the show has had about what it actually looks like to build a creative life that is completely, unapologetically yours.

They talk about:

• Growing up as the only artist in her family — and what that loneliness taught her
• Failing a printmaking class in college — and now running a print shop
• How Covid revealed what artists were really missing from each other
• Building FIG as a truly inclusive creative space in Cleveland
• The Immortality of Grief — the gallery show she made after losing her father
• Why people of all ages are afraid to make art and what to do about it
• The Ann Kibbe Residency, the FIG Foundation, and the future of the organization
• What it means to build something that is the most true version of yourself

This episode is for the creative who feels stuck. For the person who stopped making art and misses it. For the small business owner grinding through the unglamorous parts and wondering if it's worth it. For anyone who has ever wondered what it would feel like to stop shrinking and just build the thing that is completely, fully them.

Stephanie Kluk's answer — lived out loud for over two decades — is that the most creative and courageous thing any of us can do is simply become who we actually are.

Recorded on location at Future Ink Graphics, Cleveland, Ohio.

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The Creative Odyssey Podcast is hosted by Sheran Ranasinghe and produced by Odyssey House Media. New episodes explore the creative journey — why people create, how creativity shapes identity, and why we all should create.

🎙️ Host: Sheran Ranasinghe 🎨 Guest: Stephanie Kluk, Founder of Future Ink Graphics (FIG) 📍 Recorded at: Future Ink Graphics, Cleveland, Ohio 🌐 Learn more about FIG: futureinkcleveland.com 📩 Contact: [email protected] 📸 Instagram: @thecreativeodysseypodcast | @sheranstories

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