Claire Banks, Botanical Illustrator
Since 2009 I have worked closely with the science team at RBGE creating visual records of plant species from over 25 families. This has included diverse projects ranging from drawing a single cell to series of very tall tropical trees and almost everything in between. These illustrations have been published in botanical journals, Floras and identification keys. In 2015 I was awarded the Jill Smythies Medal for botanical illustration by the Linnean Society of London.
The creation of visual knowledge which communicates complex structures with clarity and accuracy links my work as an illustrator with my roles as an educator and researcher. I developed the scientific illustration module of the RBGE Botanical Illustration Diploma course and teach different modules of the course both in attended classes at the garden and online. I am currently a part-time PhD Candidate at the University of Edinburgh, researching natural history drawings made in South Asia c. 1790 – 1815.