Synkroniciti is delighted to welcome visual artist, photographer and printmaker Melody Locke of Houston, Texas, with four striking lumen prints, patterns made on treated paper exposed to sunlight, and an article about her process, inspiration and story. In addition to exploring the richness of this specialized form of photography, she has much to show us about the value of curiosity and experimentation in building a creative life.
“Lumen prints possess a uniquely ethereal quality, transforming ordinary natural materials into dreamlike images. Created by placing leaves, petals, or other organic elements directly on black & white light-sensitive paper and exposing them to sunlight, lumen prints capture fleeting impressions that feel both delicate and otherworldly.”
Spring Wishes is a delicate vision of seeding dandelions, their fuzzy halos illuminated against a background of pink and green. One thinks of sparklers, fireworks, and the magic of childhood wishes drifting into the wind. Midnight Tulips is a black-and-ivory print with rich, velvety texture imparted by the paper. The tulips blaze brightly. Fallen Leaves renders leaves in warm tones of gold and orange, while the background varies from pink to green. There is an illusion of motion, of falling, here that is quite enchanting. The final image is “Poinsettia Star,” another black-and-ivory. The soft bracts are feathery and dramatic against the black background.
Melody has worked with more than 90 species of plants, learning by experience the strengths, weaknesses and challenges of making prints from various types of foliage and flowers. The area around the subject absorbs more light, creating darker backgrounds that contrast with the subject’s shape, rendered in lighter, often glowing tones where light is blocked or seeps through much more slowly. The prints are further enhanced by toning in various solutions.
Experience Melody’s fascinating artwork and read about her process and journey in “Celebrating Mutability,” the accompanying article in our “Patterns” issue, Vol. 7, No. 4, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Melody Locke is a Houston-based artist whose work blends traditional photography with alternative processes. Best known for her lumen prints—camera-less photographs made with sunlight, leaves, and petals—her ethereal images shimmer with color and evoke both memory and imagination. Her award-winning art has been shown in regional and international juried exhibitions.
A University of Houston graduate, she has been affiliated with the Glassell School of Art since 2007. She works from Silver Street Studios in Houston’s Arts District and is an active member of several regional arts organizations and has served on the board of Women in the Visual and Literary Arts since 2018. Melody and her husband live in the Houston Heights and are dutiful servants to Maggie, their cat.