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.