Artist Roach finds audience for portraits, Western works

Famous outlaws and Western art with a twist are specialties for artist Chuck Roach, whose work will be featured and on sale at the Old Post Office Museum and Art Center from Saturday, Sept. 10 through Nov. 11. An opening reception featuring Roach is Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. at the OPOMAC. Roach has been involved with art since he was a child and won an art prize at the age of 9. As he grew up he found that he was not the only one interested in the allure of his artwork. “I went to a really small school in Coleman County and it’s not even a school there anymore, it’s (the town) called Novice. We didn’t have an art program but any time there was anything art-related that needed to be done, I always did it, so I was kind of the school artist by default,” Roach said. He attended Tarleton State University and arned a degree in history, then went on to teach for 28 years at Merkel High School. Despite his initial interest in art as a child Roach did not further that study in college. “I guess at that point I thought I knew everything, which I know was pretty stupid. I got a degree in history and I taught school for 28 years and did art part-time,” Roach said. Through his 28 teaching years Roach did not forgot his interest in art and would try throughout the year to paint portraits of his students. “Over the course of the year I could get half of them done on 19x25 paper. I would always try to do everybody but I never managed to do them all, but anyway it was great practice,” Roach said. He tutored students in his class who were interested in art and served as a judge in the VASE (Visual Arts Scholastic Event) contest which serves the official arts judging program for the state of Texas. When teaching began to wear on Roach he decided that retirement from teaching and switching to become a full time artist was something possible with a bit more funding. “I always thought if I had just this much money I could quit and do art full time, so when I finally qualified to get a check from TRS (Teacher Retirement System of Texas), it was a little bit more than that, so it worked out really well,” Roach said. Roach has been a full-time artist for six years and his first gallery was in Fort Davis. He currently shows in galleries in Granbury and Alpine. Though some of his artwork is Western-themed, the majority of his art earnings come from portrait work. For the rest of this story, pick up a copy of Wednesday’s Graham Leader, or subscribe to our online edition.