Herb Jackson (left) and Alan Michael Parker at the premiere of "10 Days" (Bill Giduz photo)

Imagine writing a poem about a drawing you’ve never seen. Imagine making a drawing in response to a poem you’ve never read. Poet Alan Michael Parker and painter Herb Jackson did just that, though they didn’t know it at the time.

In a special presentation at the Davidson College union on Thursday, March 17, the two Davidson College professors shared their  “10 Days” – a project years in the making and close to their hearts.

THE PLAN

About two years ago, the long-time friends and colleagues hatched a plan for a collaboration that was, intentionally, void of collaboration. It went like this:

They selected 10 days of no particular significance, over the course of 15 months, on which each would complete a piece. Professor Parker would write a poem, and Professor Jackson would create an abstract drawing, projects that usually take them more than 24 hours. The poem would fit on one 8-inch by 11-inch page, and the drawing would fit on a 10-inch by 7-inch piece of paper.

Beyond the basic parameters, the men would not discuss the project at all until the 10th piece was completed.

“The real kicker is that we didn’t communicate with each other,” Professor Jackson said. “We simply trusted that each other was doing it on that day.”

After completing their pieces individually, the plan was that the artists would reunite and look at their work in poem-drawing pairs.

On Thursday, the men invited the audience to share in the experience. They projected each of Professor Jackson’s drawings on a screen at the front of the room while Professor Parker read his poems aloud, showing what can happen when two artists create separate pieces, separately, on the same day.

THE FIRST BIG REVEAL

The artists treated themselves to a sneak preview one night in December.

“The night we drove to Alan’s I was so excited I could barely drive,” Professor Jackson said.

Not only did the artists avoid communicating with each other during the project, they also refrained from talking about the project with anyone else – including their family members.

“In my mind, if I talked to Alan about what I was doing, or even showed him, then we would start to predict each other,” Professor Jackson said.

“If we talked about it, we would have been unduly sacrificing aesthetics to each other,” Professor Parker said.

They shared a meal at Professor Parker’s house and then revealed their work, piece by piece.

“Some of the affinities were really remarkable,” Professor Parker said. For example, he wrote “A Theft” on Aug. 8, 2010, and one of the primary images in his poem is that of cement dust:

“…and the cement bags burst in earthly clouds
thrown down by the laughing teens
the softly floating blowzy dust on everyone.”

Parker read his poem, "The Treehouse," while Jackson's "10.18.10" was projected on the screen Thursday night.

On the same day, Professor Jackson’s drawing, “8.10.10” is pale, almost dusty, with soft grays, blues and purples – colors distinct from the vibrant palate of many of his other drawings.

On Oct. 18, 2010, Professor Parker wrote “The Treehouse,” which opens with a climb:

“I climbed into the treehouse again
which felt like I was climbing into
myself at twelve…”

Professor Jackson’s drawing from that day includes red, horizontal bars of increasing width down center of the image, suggestive of a ladder or a flight of stairs.

Being able to draw such strong connections between the pieces, Professor Parker found it hard to resist toying with notions of collective unconscious and “succumbing to my own mysticism,” he said.

A PIECE WITH A LIFE OF ITS OWN

“I see the event as a new piece, rather than seeing the poems and the drawing separately,” Professor Jackson said. “It has a new presence.”

Parker's "The Treehouse" and Jackson's "10.18.10" hang as one pair, part of "10 Days," in the Davidson College Chambers building.

“10 Days” now is on display inside the main entrance of the Chambers building on campus. The drawings and poems hang in pairs, each with the date on which the pieces were made.

“These poems will not be published elsewhere,” Professor Parker said. “For me, this is the project,” he said. “I don’t see them without the images anymore.”

The artists hope the exhibit is destined to travel beyond the walls of Chambers, and also have published a book of “10 Days” that is available in the college bookstore.

“There were experiences in this project that are new to me as a working artist,” Professor Parker said. “The results are spooky. And I like that.”