Common Shapes

Making this podcast brought me into a business ecosystem crisis. Very little of my output changed, but my inner understanding of my work needed to shift. So in today’s episode, I’m sharing how my job description has changed since I launched this show. And I’m exploring how shifting your job description can transform your relationship to your work. Tune in to learn about— How to discover what you’r...

Your offer ecosystem is how your creative offerings branch out of your artistry, fit together in the world, increase your income, and expand your reach. In this episode, I share how I’ve crafted my offer ecosystem over the past decade, and I tell you the stories of how a few of my offers have evolved and even ended. Tune in to learn about— What an offer ecosystem is My favorite ways to get ideas f...

Teaching online classes is how I’ve made the majority of my income since 2017. And it is a great joy of my career to have had such amazing, invested, weird, inspirational students. In this episode, I’m going to share my approach to creating an online class by walking us through how I teach my class A Quilt Is Something Human. I hope that this inspires you to become the teacher that you are meant t...

This week on Common Shapes podcast, I’m joined by my internet friend Sky Fusco to discuss dedicating your life to art. Sky is an artist, writer, deep thinker, question asker and truth teller. Her practice consists of writing her Substack newsletter and making drawings. Together we talk about our daily list practice, creating a gallery show, the challenges of pricing your work, and what it means to...

I think the great fear of most creative people is that we’ll run out of ideas and not know what to do next. I come up against this time and time again in my own work, so I’ve developed a series of practices for releasing fear, removing blocks, returning to center, and discovering what’s next. Tune in to this episode to learn my six favorite tools for when I don’t know what to do, including— Mornin...

This week on Common Shapes podcast, I’m sharing the mic with my friend Tamara Santibañez for a conversation about oral histories, tattooing, freelancing, and art as activism. Tamara is an interdisciplinary artist and oral historian living and working in Brooklyn. Their work is rooted in storytelling and the visual language of identity construction, exploring subcultural semiotics and the meanings...

This week on Common Shapes, I share four practices for checking in with your creative pace — internal seasons, intuitive sharing, weather systems, and the earning pathway. This episode feels like an updated version of How to Not Always Be Working , and I hope it serves your practice, your pace, and your deepest alignment. Listen in to learn— Why lists are how I orient myself in my life How to iden...

This week I’m welcoming Common Shapes’ very first guest, Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo . Lukaza (they/them/Lukaza) an artist, abolitionist, educator, storyteller, cultural worker and person of multitudes. Through a practice based in the printed multiple, community-based work and installation building, they invite the viewer to recall and share their own lived narratives, offering power and weight to t...

Today’s episode of Common Shapes is about why I love newsletters and why you (yes, you) should have one. Together we’ll explore the marketing side and the creative side of newsletters. I’ll also share— My journey starting my newsletter How to choose your email service provider The newsletter tech I recommend What to put in your newsletter Examples from my favorite newsletters How to decide if your...

This week’s episode of Common Shapes is about the fact (yes, it’s a fact) that your art is of service, no matter what you create. I also share my four containers for connecting with the why behind your work. And I offer many, many ideas for how to market your art in creative, fun, meaningful ways. Listen in to learn— Why all art is of service How to figure out who your art is for My favorite creat...

Welcome to Common Shapes! This week’s episode is about the art of beginning AKA the moment just before the sunrise of our projects when anything and everything is possible. Tune in to hear me share— Stories of my many creative beginnings My favorite visioning process Reflections on imposter syndrome The magic of starting small Then grab my free Creative Ideation Portal and start dreaming up your o...

Today’s episode of Common Shapes is about creating creative containers for our work and convening the spiritual committees that help us make and share our art. Tune in to hear me share— The many shapes my work has taken How I select and gather my spiritual committee for each creative project Why you need an email list All kinds of containers your work can take The importance of being in community...

Welcome to Common Shapes, a podcast about practices, systems and rituals for creative life. It’s hosted by me, Cody Cook-Parrott. And on this show, I talk about crafting business ecosystems that are in alignment with our values, marketing as a creative practice, and crossing the bridge between artist and small business owner. Tune in to the first four episodes for my Creative Ideation Portal guide...