Houston artist Melody Locke creates art that exists at the intersection of nature and imagination, where the ordinary transforms into something otherworldly. Working with both traditional and non-camera photographic processes, she creates images that evoke the quiet mystery of dreams, memory, and time. Whether developing black-and-white film in a wet darkroom or exposing botanical materials to sunlight, her prints shimmer with light, color, and emotion.

Central to her alternative practice is the lumen print—a camera-less photographic process in which leaves, petals, and other natural elements are placed on photographic paper and exposed to sunlight. The resulting compositions, often abstract and unpredictable, appear to bloom from within. Familiar forms dissolve into ghostly impressions, echoing the fleeting beauty of the natural world. Each print is a poetic study in light and decay, presence and absence.

A graduate of the University of Houston, Melody has been affiliated with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Glassell School of Art since 2007. Though her roots are in traditional photography, her work embraces experimentation, exploring the emotional potential of photographic materials and the organic subjects she collects.

Melody’s studio is located at Silver Street Studios in Houston’s Arts District, where she welcomes visitors during open studios on the second and third Saturdays of each month or by appointment. A California native and proud Texan since her early teens, she now lives in historic Houston Heights with her husband and their cat, who rules the roost. Melody is also an active member of several arts organizations, including Women in the Visual and Literary Arts (WiVLA), Texas Photographic Society, and the Houston Visual Artists Network.

Whether capturing a landscape or the subtle form of a flower, Melody Locke invites viewers to slow down and look closely. Her work blurs the line between the real and the imagined, reminding us that wonder often lies just beyond what we see.