Melody Locke uses traditional and alternative photographic processes to create fine art prints. Using B&W and infrared film, she develops silver gelatin black and white prints in a traditional wet darkroom. Using similar fiber papers, she also uses non-camera photographic processes, such as lumen printing, to create colorful and often ethereal images from botanical material and negatives. Her love of nature inspires her landscape photography and her more intimate lumen images of plants and flowers.
Melody has a studio in the Houston Arts District at Silver Street Studios at Sawyer Yards, and opens her studio to the public every second and third Saturday of the month. On most weekdays you can find her in her studio during the early afternoon, and she is happy to schedule appointments to accommodate other times.
Melody is a graduate of the University of Houston and began her long-term association with Museum of Fine Arts-Houston Glassell School of Art in 2007. She is a native Californian and naturalized Texan who has lived in Houston since her early teens. She and her husband are dutiful servants to their cat.
Memberships
Women in the Visual and Literary Arts (WiVLA), immediate past-president, Alternative Photography, supporting member; Visual Arts Alliance, Texas Photographic Society, Pixels + Silver, American Society of Media Photographers.
CV/Resume
See Events for information about current exhibitions.
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Along the Boulevard, Silver Street Studios West Galley, Houston, TX.
2020 Along the Boulevard, A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX.
Juried Exhibitions
2023 Leaves on Grass. Conroe Art League “CAL International 2023” exhibition, Annette Parker, Juror.
2022 Treeflection II and Three Lilies, Winter Street Studios, “Dreamscapes” exhibition, Annette Parker, Juror.
2022 Waiting and Downtown Cafe, Square Gallery, International Photography Exhibition, BLACK&WHITE “STREETS.”
2022 Leaves on Grass, Archway Gallery, “14th Annual Juried Exhibition,” Rosa Ana Orlando, Juror.
2022 Treeflection II, PhotoPlace Gallery, “Trees” exhibition; Wendi Schneider, Juror. (catalog)
2022 Treeflection I, Southeast Center for Photography, “Botanical” exhibition; Wendi Schneider, Juror. (catalog)
2022 Treeflection I, Hardy & Nance Studios, “Plantasia: A Botanical Exhibition;” Hardy & Nance jurors.
2022 Treeflection II, A Smith Gallery, Trees exhibition; Kevin Tully, juror. (catalog)
2022 Purple Lilies, Visual Arts Alliance 38th Juried Membership Exhibition, Sabine Street Studios; Lester Marks, Mayor’s Ambassador to the Arts, Houston, TX, Juror.
2021 Narcissus in Red and Three Tulips V, Women in the Visual and Literary Arts (WiVLA). “Awakening” exhibition, Virtual; Rosa Ana Orlando, Juror.
2021 Strolling Through the Houston Arboretum, MFAH Glassell School of Art, 2021 Student Exhibition; Jan Harrell, Live Johnson, and Brian Portman, Jurors.
Juried Exhibitions prior to 2021
2020 Trident Maple on the Boulevard, Kinder Morgan Exhibition Series: “Fall” exhibition at Kinder Morgan, in conjunction with Glassell School of Art.
2020 Moonlit Garden and Leaves on Grass, Visual Arts Alliance 37th Juried Membership Exhibition, Virtual; Shana Nys Dambrot, Curator and Art Critic, LA Weekly, Los Angeles, Juror.
2020 Trident Maple on Heights and Lilies and Roses for Dad, Visual Arts Alliance, “13th Juried Invitational Exhibition.” Juror Volker Eisele, Director/Founder ArtScan, Juror.
2020 Cypress Trees at Mercer Arboretum and Vasquez Rocks III, Hardy and Nance Studios, “Ratio Redux,” an exhibition of photographs created with traditional and alternative photographic processes.
2019 Tulips in Tulle Vase, “Flora,” SE Center for Photography. Kate Breakey, Juror.
2019 Roses for Dad, Archway Gallery, Eleventh Annual Juried Exhibition; Penny Cerling, Juror.
2019 Angel’s Trumpet I, Visual Arts Alliance, 36th Juried Open Exhibition; Christine Jelson West, Houston First, Cultural Programs Manager, Juror.
2019 Lilies and Roses for Dad, “Midsummer Light” exhibition, Women in the Visual and Literary Arts. Cloister Gallery at Christ Church Cathedral. Valentina Atkinson, Owner, Serrano Gallery, Juror.
2019 Cypress Trees at Mercer, “Student Exhibition.” Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Susan Budge, Charlotte Cosgrove, and Suzanne Manns, Jurors.
2019 Angel’s Trumpet I. “Alternative Processes and Integrated Media Competition,” Texas Photographic Society. Christopher James, University Professor and Director of the MFA in Photography and Integrated Media program at Lesley University – College of Art and Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Juror.
2018 20th Century Pastime, A Smith Gallery Forgotten exhibition; Blue Mitchell, Juror. Recipient of Director’s Honorable Mention. (catalog)
2018 Three Tulips IV, “Floral” exhibition at Kinder Morgan, in conjunction with Glassell School of Art.
2018 Tulips in Tulle Vase, Visual Arts Alliance. “36th Juried Membership Exhibition,” Silver Street Studios, Laura Rathe, Juror.
2017 Lilies and Tulle, A Smith Gallery “Unique: Alternative Processes” exhibition. Christina Z. Anderson, Series Editor for Focal Press/Routledge’s Contemporary Practices in Alternative Process Photography series and Professor of Photography at Montana State University, Juror. (catalog)
2017 Loquat Pearls, Loquat Mist, Poinsettia Dance, Women in the Visual and Literary Arts (WiVLA); “Abundant” exhibition; Cloisters Gallery at Christ Church Cathedral; John Runnels, Director Co-Founder at MotherDog Studios, Juror
2017 Rush Hour, Glassell School of Art Student Exhibition in conjunction with Kinder Morgan.
Group Exhibitions
2023 Beginnings, Silver Street Studios, Rosa Ana Orlando, Curator, February 4 – March 18, 2023.
2022 Open Doors, Silver Street Studios, Wayne Gilbert, Curator. December 3, 2022 – January 21, 2023.
2022 Art on the Avenue, Winter Street Studios, one print juried into gallery by Danielle Burns Wilson, juror and curator. December 1-3, 2022.
2022 FotoFest Group Exhibition: Light Around the World, Joe Aker, Curator. September 10, 2022 – February 10, 2023; St. Andrews Church, Houston, TX.
2022 Arrival, Silver Street Studios, Alton DuLaney, Curator. July 2 – August 20, 2022.
2022 Progress/Progresso, Silver Street Studios, Armando Rodriguez, Curator. May 20 – June 25, 2022.
2022 Salon d’Art, Silver Street Studios, March 26 – May 11, 2022.
2022 Art Celebrates the Story, Spring Street Studios-Invitational Exhibition. Cheri Haley Randolph, Curator.
2021 Without Limits, Silver Street Studios, December 4, 2021 – March 19, 2022.
2021 Nature, MFAH Glassell School of Art.
2021 The Sum of Us, Silver Street Studios. June 5 – August 21, 2021.
2021 Silver Street Studios. The Artists of Silver Street. March 26- May 24, 2021.
Group exhibitions prior to 2021
2020 Wabi-Sabi, Silver Street Studios. Lorena Morales, Curator; December 5, 2020 – March 13, 2021.
2020 Beautiful World — Beautiful People, “Lilies and Roses for Dad,” Cloister Gallery at Christ Church Cathedral. Joe Aker, Curator.
2020 #NewReality, Silver Street Studios, Maria Chevez, Curator.
2020 Bay 300 (FotoFest 2020), The Silos at Sawyer Yards.
2020 Discovering Repeating Patterns, Spring Street Studios. Cheri Haley Randolph, curator.
2019 My Favorite Photo from 2019, Roses for Dad, Glassell School of Art.
2019 I Knew I was an Artist When, The Silos at Sawyer Yards Studios.
2014 Student Exhibition in conjunction with FotoFest 2014, Perimeter Gallery, Glassell School of Art Studio.
2013 Annual Glassell Studio School Student Exhibition, Glassell School of Art.
2012 A Walk in the Woods, Annual Glassell Studio School Student Exhibition.
2012 The Witch is Dead, Perimeter Gallery, Glassell Studio Student Exhibition in conjunction with FotoFest 2012.
Collaborative Projects
2022 Treeflection II, “REFLECTION Collaboration,” Lee College, December 1 – 2022 – February 24, 2023. (catalog)
2020 Rescued!, “Compassion Collaboration,” Women in the Visual and Literary Arts, Biennial Collaboration, Houston Holocaust Museum. (catalog)
2018 Hiding Space, S P A C E Collaboration, Women in the Visual and Literary Arts, Biennial Collaboration. Houston Public Library, Jesse H Jones Building, first-floor gallery. (catalog)
Awards
2019 Recipient of a scholarship at Glassell School of Art for the Spring 2020 semester.
2009: Recipient of the Ruth Pershing Uhler Scholarship at Glassell School of Art.