Biography
An avid collaborator, Sutton is a member of the collective Plotform (Jane D. Marsching + Andi Sutton) whose projects activate human engagement with local ecologies, particularly the other-than-human species on this planet that are threatened by the global climate crisis. She is also a member of The National Bitter Melon Council (NBMC), a collective that worked actively from 2004 – 2014 and continues to produce events across the world wherever bitterness resides. The NBMC uses the form of a vegetable promotion board to create public projects that use the flavor and emotion of bitterness – and Bitter Melon – to spark dialogue about difference, foreignness, and community, and explore the boundaries between art and life. Combining performance art and community development practice, the Bitter Melon focused events of the NBMC creates projects that propose alternative models for community and coming together and spark dialogue about bitterness, foreignness, and flavor. Among Andi’s art and community building work has also included a curatorial practice, writing and art criticism, workshops and teaching, and the production of public events and happenings.
Sutton has received grants from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Council for the Arts and the LEF Foundation and is the winner of the MFA Traveling Scholars Award and, along with The National Bitter Melon Council, the Artadia Art Award (Boston). Alongside her career as an artist, Sutton has led the Consortium for Graduate Studies in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality at MIT as Program Manager and supported the sustainability and resilience of the world’s water and food systems through her work as communications and program manager at the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS), also at MIT. She is currently Executive Director of the Southeast Regional Sustainable Development Partnership at the University of Minnesota, working with rural communities to connect U of M resources to help solve local sustainability challenges. She a passionate cook, gardener, and activist mother, can’t help but incorporate each, metaphorically and literally, into her work.
Press
PUBLICATIONS: Writing, Criticism, and Interviews
Forthcoming:
Let Them Eat LACMA, anniversary exhibition catalog edited by the Fallen Fruit Collective
2013
FEAST: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art, exhibition catalog edited by Stephanie Smith, Curator, SMART Museum of Art, University of Chicago
2010
Better Living through Bitter Melon: A Manual, artist book edited and art directed by Andi Sutton and Misa Saburi, National Bitter Melon Council Books, Boston, MA, 2010
2009
“A Conversation with AA Bronson” in Big Red and Shiny, Issue #103, March 30, 2009
“The Busycle” in Aspect: The Chronicle of New Media Art (DVD Magazine), Vol. 13: Public, Boston, MA, 2009
2008
“Bitter Melon” in Decentre: Concerning Artist Run Cultures, YYZ Books, Toronto, Canada, 2008
SELECTED PRESS
2013
“DeCordova Show Surveys the Beauty of Nature’s Bounty”, Daniel Grant, The Boston Globe, June 13, 2013
“Artists Propose Stemming the Tide of Global Warming with Artificial Marshes”, Greg Cook, WBUR: The Artery, March 12, 2013
“Stitching the Shore with Plotform at 808 Gallery”, Stephanie Cordon, Big, Red, and Shiny, March 7, 2013
2012
“Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art”, Julia Robinson, Art Forum, January issue
2011
“Better Living through Bitter Melon”, Aaron Kagen, Splashlife, June 29
“Better Living through Bitter Melon”, The NBMC, in “The Bittersweet Issue”, Hyphen Magazine, Issue 23, May
“Cultivating a Fan Club for Bitter Melon”, Aaron Kagen, The Boston Globe, May 25
“The National Bitter Melon Council”, Sheila Terril, Leadership and Community: Awareness, Development, and Action in the Twin Cities, Feb. 28
“Bitter is the New Umami”, Jesse Hirsch, SF Weekly, Feb. 15
2010
“The Other Senses”, Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik, Art Practical, The Food Issue, Nov. 18
“Eat LACMA was Vital as Fruit”, Bruna Mori, Archinect, Nov. 10
“BYO: Is Your Voice in the Conversation”, Minji Kim, Harvard Gazette, Oct. 20
“High Concept: ‘Artadia Boston’ at the BCA plus Terra Cotta at the Gardener”, Greg Cook, The Boston Phoenix, April 6
“The Gardens of LACMA”, Joshua Morrison, Fine Arts LA and Huffington Post, July 5
“Food as Art: Exhibit of Artists Gardens”, Roberta Cruger, Tree Hugger, July 31
“Bitter Melon Trellis: A Jungle Gym of Bamboo Springs Up at LACMA”, Dexigner, May 17
“The Red Light District of LACMA”, Sarah Bay Williams, Unframed
2009
“Roundtable”, Matt Nash, Big Red & Shiny, Issue 121, Dec. 14
“Affects of Gravity at the Topsfield Fair”, Matt Nash, Big, Red, & Shiny, Issue 116, Oct. 7
“Manifesto Slam on an Obama-Inspired Bus”, Andrea Shea, Radio interview on NPR, WBUR 90.9
2008
“Make It Stop”, Rebecca Zorach, The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest 6, Vol. 2 Issue 2 #6
“Platform2’s Parade for the Future”, Greg Cook, The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research, Blog, September 14
“Parade for the Future”, Christian Holland, The Weekly Dig, September 10
“Parade for the Future is June 15th”, Greg Cook, The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research, Blog, June 4
“In ‘Artadia Show’ Local Artists Share the Spotlight”, Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe, May 14
“Artadia Opens at Mills Gallery”, Mark Valentine, Edge Provincetown, May 2
“Artadia Boston 2007”, Laura Donaldson, Exhibition Catalog, April
“Thinking Small: A Local Collaborative Subverts with the Tiny”, The Boston Phoenix, April 7
“Platform2’s Failure Support Group”, Editor, Our Daily Red, February 29
“Failure Support Group is Friday”, Greg Cook, The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research, Blog, February 27
2007
“Exploring Risk, Race, and Class with Platform2”, Matthew Nash, Big Red and Shiny, Issue 70, October 2
“Contaminate II at Midway Studios”, Jed Speare, Big Red and Shiny, Issue 60, March 25
“News: Boston Artadia Awards Announced” Art Forum Online: www.artforum.com, May 22
“Artnet News: 2007 Artadia Award Winners” Artnet Magazine, May 22
“Artadia Grant Winners Announced” New England Journal of Aesthetic Research, Online Publication, May 16
“Awards and Honors” MIT News Office, MIT Tech Talk, May 21
“Artadia Announces 2007 Winners” SMFA Boston News and exhibitions, May
“Artadia Announces 2007 Awards”, Big Red News Editor, Big Red and Shiny, May 16
2006
“Pure: Spreading the Disease of Viral Art”, Jason Feifer, The Weekly Dig, Issue 8, 43, October 25
“Thinking Inside the Box: ‘Pure’ turns a former OfficeMax into a study of art as a contagion”, Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe. October 19
“The Best Goya” Betty Shimabukuro The Star Bulletin, Honolulu, Vol. 11, Issue 157
“Big Red On-the-Town: Goya Honoring Day” Big Red, Big Red & Shiny, Issue 43
“MIT Artists Receive LEF Foundation Grants” MIT News Office, Jan. 26
“LEF Foundation Announces 2006 Grants” Big Red News Editor, Big Red & Shiny, Issue 33
“The Revolving Dinner” Michah Malone, Big Red & Shiny, Issue 28
2005
“Where Your Mouth Is #3: Ownership Society” (Podcast) Jaclyn Freidman, AlterNet.com, Aug. 9
“Bitter Melon Week: South End artists celebrate revolting vegetable” Rachel Ahrens, Weekly Dig, July 20
“Bitter Melon enlists a neighborhood” Kimberly W. Moy Boston Globe, July 20
“Ambitious and engaging show makes art of the community” Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe, July 9
“Out and About” Art Matters Summer Edition
2004
“Ah, the celebs, the lights, the absurdity” Ron Fletcher, Boston Globe, May 9
2003
“Homeland Insecurity Ignites Adams ArtSpace”, Harvard Crimson, April 27
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