Michele Banks

Meet Michele

City: Washington, DC

Preferred medium: Watercolor, ink and resist

About me: I started painting about 25 years ago and had my first show in 2001. At first, I was doing abstract watercolors and collages. I started creating art inspired by science around 12 years ago.

About the artist:

I did the 'Nature Brains' in watercolor on paper. I used a resist to create the images inside the brains. After painting and removing the resist, this technique leaves white lines, which give a feeling of lightness to the images.

The Brain Scan painting with the mission statement was made with ink on yupo, which is a polypropylene paper. I again used a resist to create the images, which I then covered with multiple layers of ink in different colors. I like the slightly obscured, 'half-seen' effect this gives.

What inspires you to create art?

I am generally inspired by the brain. I am amazed by this lump of jelly that we all walk around with, and that enables us to breathe, move, think, dream, and imagine. Artistically, that's a lot to work with! In my watercolor brains, I generally explore visual metaphors ideas about what's going on in the brain (like ideas flowering, head in the clouds, tangled thoughts, etc.) In the Nature Brains that I made for the Justin Institute, the different landscapes suggest growth and exploration.

In my Brain Scan pieces, I often use scientific images of the brain in layers of ink washes to suggest the processes of learning, remembering, and forgetting. I sometimes combine the images with text about memory and consciousness.

What is your connection to the neurosciences?

Strictly inspiration! And I have been lucky enough to meet a lot of neuroscientists through showing my work at the annual meetings of the Society for Neuroscience.

What do you hope people feel, think, or learn from your art?

I hope they have an emotional response to my work, and also that they take a minute to think about all the amazing things their brain can do. My work is highly allusive – I hope it brings out memories and feelings about other things they may have seen, heard or read.

What does your art mean to you?

It is my life's work.

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