BLp Bio

Heather May Redetzke and Patrick Melroy are two friends making art together.

Redetzke and Melroy met in art college. They regrouped in 2007 and began a creative conversation about community oriented art that continues today. The two artists are most interested in nontraditional art offerings. Bringing the contemporary art conversation into the public realm through site specific installations and spontaneous moments of public delight. Their community becomes their platform, and their neighbors become their audience as well as participants and collaborators.

Redetzke and Melroy work under the collaborative title Bottled Lightning projects. This intellectual umbrella allows them to bring any number and variety of collaborators into their art making. BLp generates art for a general public/community consumption.

Two artists criticizing each others work. Two artist trained in the same academic institution. Two creatives working together at an endeavor to build.

Heather May Redetzke and Patrick Melroy found themselves in need of criticism. Each had been working independently and struggled to get a meter of their success. They began a conversation in the winter of 2007 that has resulted in multiple creative adventures into and around their community. With a focus on social interaction and community involvement they have worked to generate moments of excitement and fun. Their intermedia practice incorporates many matarials and participants to achieve their creative goals.

origin: Bottled Lightning projects

In late 2007 after being selected for a group show curated by Arnold J Kemp, Redetzke and Melroy needed a name for their colaboration, drawing from long conversations and a constant interest in compartmentalizing ideas into mutually excepted shorthand, they arrived at Bottled Lightning projects. A name which could function as an intellectual tent for their shared projects. Bottled Lightning projects, or BLp took form and has grown to describe an elaborate contract between the artists. Holding them to a standard by which they can continue to propel their art making forward. Often working in coffee shops and local taverns, the two take their ideas into the non traditional art spaces of the citywide laboratory where they currently reside. Portland's urban/green city provides a rich and fertile platform for their often spontaneous and innovative use of the streets they move through.