Speaker 1: 0:07

Welcome to the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson, and today I am so thrilled to introduce you to Josh Hickman, a true renaissance man from Highland Park. Josh is an amazingly talented artist and writer, known for his sharp wit and dry sense of humor. He writes for Park City's People and Preston Hollow People newspapers, and is the author of six hilarious comic and satirical novels. Josh's talents don't stop there, though. He's also an accomplished painter, with solo exhibitions in both Dallas and Los Angeles. His work can be seen in Parkland Hospital and also the Records Building downtown, where he was commissioned to paint a large piece of art depicting District 2, which even includes the Park Cities. Oh, and did I mention he's a musician too. We are in for a fascinating conversation today. Josh, thank you so much for being here today.

Speaker 2: 0:59

Thank you for having me. I'm excited.

Speaker 1: 1:01

Well, with a background like yours, I literally don't even know where to start, but I guess let's jump in and start with your newest book.

Speaker 2: 1:07

Okay, yeah, my latest book is called Songs in the Key of H Tales of Irony and Insinuation, and it's a collection of short stories which is kind of a first for me. I write comic novels mainly. I have six books out and most of those are comic novels, which are novels just like any other novel, but they're funny. So that's kind of the difference. And this last time around I just had come up with a bunch of ideas that were short and I thought you know, maybe it's time to do short stories, and so that's what I did. And the difference with this one is some of them are funny and some of them are not so funny. So it's a mixture of humor and kind of more serious, poignant stories that I wanted to tell, and I'm proud of it. I think it's one of my best books, for sure.

Speaker 1: 2:01

Well, when I was reading up on you, what I really liked is the fact that you do mix humor with more seriousness and you like to combine laughs while also kind of having an undercurrent of showing many of your characters flaws along the way.

Speaker 2: 2:17

Yeah, yeah, that's true. There's a lot of pathos, there's a lot of irony in my writing and, yeah, there's usually kind of consistent messages in there between the lines. They're not politically correct, for sure, and they're more about, you know, questioning authority. Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it If something is too good to be true, if it seems that way it probably is. And how decisions in life you know the effects they can have that you don't really foresee. That can be tragic or funny, or how they change your life along the way is a lot of what they're about.

Speaker 1: 3:01

Right. Well, I like what you said, that they're not politically correct, because I feel like we're in a society now where we are all so uptight and on edge about what we can say and not say and a lot of us that are a little bit older like myself, we really don't know what's okay to say anymore.

Speaker 2: 3:16

Yeah, yeah, that's.

Speaker 2: 3:17

That was definitely one of the reasons I started writing novels was it's people have become uptight and it was like I thought people aren't people I know aren't laughing like they used to you know, and I was trying to find humor and some things that are going on these days in society, and that was really the main thrust of the beginning of these books was just lighten up, laugh at yourself, laugh at each other. It's okay, you know, you don't have to toe the line all the time. That was, yeah, that's. I have that feeling very strongly.

Speaker 1: 3:58

So Well, I read another interview that you did and you said that you really let yourself go on this book and you didn't really hold back and the whole process took about two years to write the book, right.

Speaker 2: 4:08

True, true, yeah, I had started it and I ended up having to take care of my mother who had Alzheimer's, and so I took care of her for three years and I finished the book during that time. That's probably part of the reason it's not all funny is because what I was going through was not particularly funny, right. So but yeah, it took. You know, I cut out some stories and I put some more in and edited them down and, yeah, I was happy with what I came up with. It was a long process, but there was a lot of thought involved and things going on in life that affected the stories.

Speaker 1: 4:46

Right. Well, it's so important to be proud of your work at the end and it sounds like you definitely are on this one.

Speaker 2: 4:50

Yeah, I really like this book.

Speaker 1: 4:52

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Speaker 2: 5:42

Yeah, I was fortunate enough, through a friend of mine, mickey McGuire, who worked with JJ Koch, to get a commission to do a painting of District 2 for outside his office down in the Records Building downtown, which is still where it resides. So we wanted to do landmarks and so forth in the district and the district is really big, you know, it goes all the way down from, like, cedar Springs up to Coppell and it includes Highland Park, university Park, a lot of you know Preston Hollow, and so we started with 12, I think my sketch was 12 different little locations painted and we ended up with 26, which was a lot more than I started with and it's a pretty large painting, five feet by four feet, and I spent a long time on that, proud of it and it's, as far as I know it's still hanging in the records building.

Speaker 1: 6:37

It's still there, Well, and then also at Parkland Hospital. You have a pretty large piece there as well.

Speaker 2: 6:42

Yeah, yeah, I was kind of right before the pandemic I was trying to. I had spent some time in Parkland Hospital. They actually kind of saved my life at one point. So I felt, you know, indebted to them and I noticed when I was there that there was hardly any artwork in the entire hospital and yet you would go to other hospitals and there would be Dale Chihuly, you know, whatever. So right before the pandemic I was trying to get with them to donate a piece, to do a piece for them. Pandemic came along, it was put off for, you know, like two years or so and I ended up doing a piece, sort of a landscape, island landscape, sort of calming piece on wood that they ended up accepting and it's now in the hospital as one of the pieces of art. So I was happy that that happened.

Speaker 1: 7:34

Oh, wow. Yeah, those are two very significant buildings to have your artwork in.

Speaker 2: 7:38

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 7:39

Well, so you've been working on portraits of people most recently. Yeah, and what drew you to want to do that?

Speaker 2: 7:46

well, I started a few years ago, probably 2020, doing portraits because I thought I wasn't very good at it and that was frustrating. So I started working on it more and um have done many and I'm kind of getting back to them now at this point, concentrating on that type of painting and they're I try to concentrate on people in the area. So, like Highland Park, university Park, preston, hollow people I know, people I don't know, but they more. They're not stuffy, old master type full-length, life-size oil paintings. They're more modern, they're more contemporary. They're usually just the face and I like to employ bright colors. Sometimes I'll use the person's favorite color or something if that works. Sometimes the person's favorite color or something, if that works. Sometimes, and not quite, you know Andy Warhol, but they look like the person.

Speaker 2: 8:56

But they're kind of lighter and more colorful than your usual portraits. So I am taking original portrait commissions if anyone's interested.

Speaker 1: 9:04

Well, painting a portrait of somebody, it's a real personal experience. And how do you balance kind of how you're interpreting them versus how they see themselves?

Speaker 2: 9:17

Yeah, I try to just be pretty accurate with how they, you know, actually look kind of simplify things, sometimes down to lines, and, you know, simple shapes and shading and etc. And usually they're surprised at how much it captures them, which is nice. I they don't sit. For me I don't. That's not that much of a hassle. I usually go to where they are, to their home, and I take photographs and I then go away and I work from photographs and that is how I compose the portrait and, yeah, I've had good luck so far.

Speaker 1: 9:58

Yeah, I think if I was to paint a portrait I would rather do it that way than you know. You always see in the old timey movies them sitting there for hours actually painting, while the person sits there on a stool.

Speaker 2: 10:08

Yeah, I can't, I can't do that. It's too unnerving and they would get you know annoyed, and I prefer working from a variety of photographs.

Speaker 1: 10:17

Yeah, yeah, that would get kind of awkward. Well, so, just going along with the whole theme of so many things that you've been involved with, you've done a lot of interesting things, especially right out of college. I see a long list of very interesting jobs that you had. Kind of walk us through those things that you did.

Speaker 2: 10:32

Oh yeah, and you know the bohemian lifestyle. I did all kinds of things, my gosh. I worked at a library, I worked as a waiter, I worked as a bartender. I worked briefly as a waiter, I worked as a bartender. I worked briefly as a private detective, a private investigator. I've written, I've played music, I've done murals. I've done all kinds of jobs through over the years. When I lived in hollywood, I worked as an extra in movies. I did writing Hollywood. I worked as an extra in movies. I did writing script doctoring, all kinds of stuff. So it's been a long and winding road to where I am now.

Speaker 1: 11:13

Yeah, I feel like there's literally nothing you can't do.

Speaker 2: 11:16

Oh no, there's plenty I can't do, but I'm trying to hone it down to what I do best. Get more specific.

Speaker 1: 11:23

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Speaker 1: 11:50

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Speaker 2: 12:38

Yeah, you know, I guess working as a private investigator I had to confront my natural shyness, which is probably why I wasn't a great private investigator. But yeah, kind of coming out of your shell is a tough thing when you're a shy person. And then working in all the different low-level writing jobs I did of course helped to hone writing and I guess a lot of the detailed work I did, some art restoration and framing of art at one point and that kind of helped me, you know, in technique and so forth.

Speaker 1: 13:16

So yeah, so let's talk about Highland Park, since the podcast is all about the park cities. You grew up here and just in the brief time that we talked it sounds like your family really knew early on that you had this creative side to you that really needed to be honed in on.

Speaker 2: 13:33

Yeah, yeah, my dad was in the military. He was a lieutenant commander in the Navy and we moved around a lot but we finally, when I was a kid, moved to Dallas and we moved to Highland Park when I was young and so I grew up on Livingston in Highland Park until I graduated high school and later went off to college. I guess that's when I finally moved away and moved back later on. But yeah, I'm sorry. What was the second part of the question?

Speaker 1: 14:06

Well, we were talking about the schools. Oh yeah yeah, you went to an interesting school when you were pretty young and then eventually ended up at Booker T.

Speaker 2: 14:13

Yeah, I remember going to Highland Park Mediativ School, which was in Highland Park Presbyterian Church, if I remember correctly. I would have gone to regular Highland Park schools. I would have gone to Highland Park High School, but I ended up getting into Booker T Washington High School for Visual and Performing Arts, which was great because I fit in there pretty well, excelled at painting and sculpture. I did metal sculpture welding. When I was there sold my first piece in high school. So yeah, it was a great experience. Glad that that happened.

Speaker 1: 14:52

Well, was it really at Booker T, when you really knew that you had a gift for art and that that was something that would earn you a living?

Speaker 2: 15:00

Yeah, I mean it was. You know, I had been drawing since I was about two and that's definitely when I took a turn to take it more seriously, you know. I mean you had to in that high school and so that's kind of where you got serious and learned the basics and honed your skills. And yeah, I definitely wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for that.

Speaker 1: 15:24

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Speaker 1: 16:13

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Speaker 2: 16:49

Yeah, it's a tough thing, you know. Certainly encourage them and support them as much as you can while not ignoring the financial aspects and how to get into galleries and things like that, which is things that I wasn't that educated on and just try to help them flourish in the arts. I know I've interviewed a few people for people newspapers who are artists in Highland Park. One was a high school student and going to Highland Park High and so they're out there. I know there's creative people that need support and, like me, I was just not into sports ever. I never played on a game and on a team. I was never in a game, I just had no interest in it whatsoever. And I'm sure there's some kids out there that are like that and they have other pursuits and so, yeah, just support them as best you can, you know, and nurture that talent that they have.

Speaker 1: 17:54

Absolutely Well. We do not all need to fit into the same bucket, and I think having that creative outlook is so great for young people and then going to a school such as Booker T that really cultivates those talents like what you did, I think is so good and it's so great that your family was supportive of you moving over.

Speaker 2: 18:13

Yeah, yeah, it was, you know. I'm grateful that my parents didn't my dad being a military guy, you wouldn't think he would maybe be that into it but they both, you know, were very supportive and looked at all my work and always saw the bright side of that, so that helped.

Speaker 1: 18:30

That's good to know. Saw the bright side of that, so that helped. That's good to know. Well, you were talking about how you interviewed some of the artists when you have written for Park City's People which is our neighborhood newspaper. Tell us what you've done with them.

Speaker 2: 18:41

Yeah, I've been writing freelance for People newspapers, which is Park City's People and Preston Hollow People, for about three and a half years now and yeah, I enjoy that quite a bit. Get to know people I like to do kind of artsy or human interest stories individuals, business owners, small businesses in the area. That's what I like to concentrate on and I just yesterday received an award from the National Newspaper Association Foundation Editorial Contest 2024 for my work with People Newspaper. So that was happy news.

Speaker 1: 19:20

Well, congratulations.

Speaker 2: 19:21

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 19:21

That is wonderful to be recognized.

Speaker 2: 19:23

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 19:24

So one of my most favorite parts of interviewing authors and artists is just finding out about what it took to get to the final project. Just finding out about what it took to get to the final project, just that creative process and all the rounds of revisions and things like that that you go for go through. Can you talk to us about that whole process?

Speaker 2: 19:43

Yeah, it's. You know it's a struggle sometimes being artistic and writing and so forth. Being artistic and writing and so forth, it's, you know, for the art I mean, it's kind of a blessing and a curse. You know you're creative. It can be very frustrating. Also, both writing and, you know, painting, doing art is kind of a lonely vocation. You know you're by yourself a lot of the time, working alone without much feedback and without a whole lot of sometimes not much confidence.

Speaker 2: 20:20

And I've dealt with things for sure like depression, which I've had off and on since I was a teenager, and emotional problems. Things happen in your life and you have to kind of dig deep and keep plowing through. It can be, you know, it can be hard, that's. You know, one of the things people with creative kids or whatever have to understand is yeah, it's great, but it can. Also, you know, there can be mood swings and there can be, you know, a lot going on under the surface that you don't see. That you have to eventually deal with. So yeah, in painting and I don't just do portraits, I do landscapes, I do abstracts, I do all kinds of stuff, Some of it is more just for therapy art really, I would say, like the abstract stuff is, I just let my mind, my hand and my eye go and let them do their thing, and it's very much kind of like meditating sure and I do, you know, when I'm feeling burned out or whatever, I'll certainly do that kind of work and it helps.

Speaker 2: 21:27

And they sell as well, you know, not just the portraits, so, but, um, yeah, it's a, you know you work in stages with paintings and, um, try to come up with a way to get it down on paper or wood or canvas and, uh, you know, most of the time it works pretty well, but it can, you can. You can have writer's block and you can, you know, have trouble with pieces. It's, that's for sure, but in the end it's, you know, it's. You try to make it a joyous thing, is something you enjoy and can give to the world, not just keep it inside you because you'll drive yourself crazy.

Speaker 2: 22:05

So, yeah, that's a little bit about the process and in writing it's yeah, again, it's kind of a lonely thing, but you have ideas that you feel a lot better when you get them down on paper and you do a lot of editing and self-discipline and getting it done and I usually go over my books, I usually edit my own books, frankly, and I will go over every book word for word, you know, punctuation for punctuation, at least six times before I start to relax and say, okay, I think this is, you know, getting to where it needs to be. You have to be able to be critical of yourself too, and not just think everything you do is a masterpiece. You know, that's not the way it works.

Speaker 1: 22:53

Right. So, Well, like I keep saying, there's so many things that you've done, but is there anything out there that you have your sights on that you haven't tried yet that you'd really like to do?

Speaker 2: 23:05

Yeah, I'd like to do. I'd like to get back into filmmaking, for one thing. I have a degree in film from UT. I've done writing, screenwriting and script doctoring and so forth. A couple of things have been produced. But I would kind of like to get back into visual storytelling in film or video. I like silent movies as much as I like a lot of the verbal and word stuff. I also like nonverbal stuff almost as much, so I like telling stories and ideas through pictures and I'd like to get back to that. I might like to get back to sculpture too, which is what I used to do in high school. I did metal sculpture and I've thought about that and that might be fun to do larger pieces again.

Speaker 2: 23:56

And as far as books go, I've not sure. You know, sometimes I'm tempted to do something political, but then I immediately turn around and say no, there's enough of that already. That's just depressing. So I'm, you know, as I I mentioned, I took care of my mother for over three years who, as she declined from Alzheimer's and that was quite a story, you know, in my life and living with her and taking care of her and one of the few things I could do because I was at home all the time I couldn't leave.

Speaker 2: 24:28

You know is painted a lot. I got a lot of paintings done during that time and I wrote, finished my last book and I kind of am thinking maybe I should write a book about that experience, because Alzheimer's rates are just going up and up and up and so many people are going to be dealing with this type of situation. You know, baby boomers are getting older as a giant population that will be aging, uh, here and so it. It might actually help if I could help people who are in a similar situation. I would do it, you know, because it's it's definitely a tough experience to go through and uh. So I'm thinking about that for the next book. It'll be something totally different and all based on reality, but I think I might need to do that. I don't know, we'll see.

Speaker 1: 25:22

Well, I definitely encourage you to do that. I myself know a few friends that are going through it, and you're right, you just don't know what to expect, and having a book of somebody's firsthand experience, I think, would be extremely helpful.

Speaker 2: 25:35

Yeah, yeah, I would hope so.

Speaker 1: 25:37

Well, something we haven't talked about yet is your music. Tell me about that. What do you do and what are you involved with?

Speaker 2: 25:43

Oh yeah, that's another one of my pursuits, maybe the lesser pursuit, but yeah, it's funny because I'm not really too much of a natural musician. I kind of had to struggle my way through it, taught myself guitar kind of a little bit later in life Started playing harmonica, actually on the street in Deep Ellum when I was a teenager.

Speaker 1: 26:04

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2: 26:05

But yeah, back in the old days. But I slowly taught myself guitar and I had a band when I lived in LA for about 10 years. And then I have a band here now and I like to play oddly nonverbal music. So it's all instrumental, there's no vocals, it's all guitar-based instrumental music, a lot of it influenced by just kind of old school rock and roll from the 50s and 60s and mainly concentrate on instrumentals. Yeah, we're called the Crabs is the name of the band the Crabs.

Speaker 1: 26:43

Where can we see you play?

Speaker 2: 26:45

Oh, we do private parties and we play at a couple of local places. Actually, the last place we played was at the American Legion on Bachman Lake near Love Field. We played a luau there, it's fun.

Speaker 1: 27:01

That does sound fun Well. So we are kind of into getting into the holidays here and a lot of people are looking for very unique gifts and it sounds like we could commission you to do portraits or any number of things.

Speaker 2: 27:14

Yeah, yeah, I'm open for business. Yeah, portraits I've. Like I say, try to concentrate on local people, but I can do whoever and I've done, you know, children, adults, of course, husbands, wives, mothers. You know I've done dogs People like to have portraits of dogs done.

Speaker 2: 27:36

I just really do, In fact I just finished one a couple of days ago and so yeah, that's, it's a good you know thing to have, and especially with all you know everything being done on computers and AI and all this, a lot of that stuff I can't stand. So this is an old fashioned you know portrait, painted by hand with paint on canvas and done from photographs, and it's kind of a nice one of a kind you know thing to have, I think.

Speaker 1: 28:08

So tell us again about the process. How do people go about starting a portrait with you?

Speaker 2: 28:13

I work from photographs, so you don't have to come sit in a chair for hours on end. I usually just come to where you are, your home or wherever you would like, and I take a bunch of photographs and then, hopefully, I've got some good ones and I don't have to come back and take more. And then I go away and I use those photographs to do the portraits and I usually delete the photographs, so the painting is the only thing left, and yeah, and then you get your portrait.

Speaker 1: 28:45

Perfect. Well, how can we get in touch with you?

Speaker 2: 28:48

Well, I'm on social media. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram. I'm usually at TheRealJoshHickman. That's J-O-S-H-H-I-C-K-M-A-N. That's usually how you find me. You can search me Josh Hickman artist. I do have a website for the books, which is JoshHickmanBookscom, so you can look there as well, and all of my books are. The easiest way to get my books is on Amazon, but you can ask at your local bookstore. If they don't have it, they should be able to order it, but they're all on Amazon for sure.

Speaker 1: 29:24

Perfect. Well, this has been such a treat to get to know you today, and thank you so much for sharing your background with us.

Speaker 2: 29:30

Yeah, thank you I and thank you so much for sharing your background with us.

Speaker 1: 29:32

Yeah, thank you, I've enjoyed it. That's been another episode of the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson and I'll see you next time.