Winging It

One image shows the Wright Brothers’ famous aircraft as it teeters skyward, up where only birds went before.

Another presents the god Apollo, standing statuesque before a lunar landscape where two astronauts raise a flag on a landscape that’s far from Earth.

Whichever painting of Michelle Rouch’s you study, it’s hard to think of it as simply “aviation art.” There’s so much more.

“A lot of people don’t understand aviation art,” Rouch confirms. “Some people will view my work and think, ‘Nice landscape, but why did she put an airplane in there?’ My whole philosophy is: the airplane is not big enough!” But it’s definitely about more than just planes in her life. To say that she likes to stay busy would be an understatement.This wife, mother, engineer, artist and professional member of multiple art, aviation and astronomical societies doesn’t find much time for rest.

Her journey to becoming a professional on several fronts seems as natural as the curiosity that drove Galileo to design instruments of flight.

In some respects, it began in Dayton, Ohio, with her mother Gabriele who enrolled her daughter in Saturday afternoon art classes. Michelle’s father Wieland Mueller had a different perspective.

“He was an engineer and would tell me, ‘Find a job that puts food on the table.’” By 1985, Rouch had matriculated at Dayton’s Wright State University to study art, but soon found herself drawn to the math and science classes.

“I was in algebra, trigonometry and calculus classes and my brother asked, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ I replied, ‘Umm … I’m going to be a math teacher?’ He said, ‘No,’ and instead encouraged me to become an engineer.”

As Michelle worked toward her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, she met her future husband, Fotios Rouch, a Greek gentleman who was in the U.S. studying to become an engineer. In 1992, the couple moved to Tucson, and Michelle commuted to a job as an electrical engineer for Information Systems Engineering Command at Fort Huachuca.She also earned a master’s degree in information systems engineering at Western International University, and in 1999, landed her current job in systems engineering with DoD at Raytheon.

It was the marriage of her passion for art, and her husband’s hobby, that led to her current “side” career. “Fotios was constructing model airplanes. He would tell me, ‘I have a lot of information on airplanes. Why don’t you paint them?’ And I would repeat, ‘No, I can’t paint airplanes.I’ve never done that before!’”

Combining her talents in math and art helped her get the idea aloft.

With the support of her husband, she completed her first aviation-oriented painting, a C-2 Greyhound, which was chosen as the artwork for the box top of the model plane. “The second painting portrayed our son walking at the Pima Air and Space Museum, which is displayed on the stationery there. The aviation art got serious fast.”

Serious, and philanthropic, as she began to donate her artwork to programs and organizations that have included: Tucson International Airport; American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronomic (AIAA) Society’s Kid’s Club Project; University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Foundation; Wright Flight; Boy Scouts Catalina Council; Pima Air and Space Museum’s Night Wings Club; Experimental Aviation Association (EAA), among others.

“I use art to communicate with children.

I want it to be a vehicle to teach them about technology.” With so much time spent in and around airplanes, one wonders if obtaining a pilot’s license is on the horizon for the artist?

“Currently, I’m a dedicated passenger! I would love to get my pilot’s license someday, but right now engineering, being a mom and an artist consume my time. ” Rouch prefers to leave the flying to Expert pilots such as Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles, both of whom she met recently while donating her artwork to raise funds for the EAA’s Young Eagles program.

“I said to Jeff Skiles, ‘You don’t want to talk about flight 1549 and landing on the Hudson River do you?’ and he said, ‘No.’ I replied, ‘Good, let’s talk about the future!’” As for her future, the direction of Rouch’s art may be about to take a hard right turn.

“I want to venture into the abstract, yet still use aviation or some level of space as the overall theme. My goal is to begin five abstract paintings at one time.”

When asked why she has chosen to do five, she exclaims, “Because I will run out of materials at that point!”

View Michelle Rouch’s creations at www.rouch.com.