Herb Jackson is a Southerner and polite. So when someone in a worried tone asks him what ever will he do now that he’s retiring, he says softly, “I have plenty to do.” What he’s thinking – and is too well-mannered to say – is, “Have you not noticed what I’ve been doing for the last 50 years?”
What the Davidson College professor has been doing – and will continue to do after retiring in May – is making art. Disciplined and hardworking, Jackson, 65, is up with the sun for a five-mile walk before a breakfast of green tea and fruit. Then, he spends hours in his studio. All that effort yields paintings that sell for five figures and a comfortable lifestyle. The nationally-known artist drives a silver Jaguar sedan. Sitting in that paint-stained studio behind his house on South Main Street, Jackson says, “Any success I have is because I’ve busted my ass.”