Michele Banks
My ink and watercolor paintings, on themes ranging from neuroscience to the microbiome to climate change, been shown at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and at the Society for Neuroscience , as well as at many galleries and art festivals.
I’ve exhibited my work in numerous group and solo shows, notably at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), The NIH, The McLean Project for the Arts and the Ewing Gallery of Art. I write a newsletter on the intersection of art and science at https://artologica.substack.com/
Starting in 2016, I have regularly shown my work (and sometimes also been a speaker or panelist) at large scientific conferences, including the Society for Neuroscience, the American Society for Microbiology, and the American Society for Cell Biology. In 2018, I exhibited my art at the FENS Forum in Berlin (the joint meeting of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies).
Also in 2018, I was the artist in residence in a drosophila lab studying evolution at the Institut Jacques Monod in Paris. This residency, supported by a grant from the DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities, (DCCAH), included a scientist/artist joint workshop in DC and later, a group show by five of the artist participants.
I have been awarded several Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program (AHFP) grants by the DCCAH and two of my paintings are in the Wilson Building Art Collection. In 2021, one of my COVID ink paintings was acquired by the National Academies of Science, and featured in Convergence II, a book of their collection.
In 2023, I spoke at the Kennedy Center as part of the program Juxtapositions: Art and Science.
My science-inspired paintings have been used as cover art for textbooks and journal covers and have been featured in publications including Scientific American, The Scientist, and Wired.
Interests
Neuroanatomy
Visual perception
Gut-brain axis
