In considering the definition of an American National Treasure, perhaps we would include criteria that recognizes distinctly American qualities such originality, creativity, and invention in addition to passing on enduring traditions. In the United States, perhaps the closest award that carries that kind of recognition is the MacArthur Fellowship. It was great news when Tim Barrett received a MacArthur in 2009 for his years of research and production of fine, traditional handmade paper. Those of us who have worked closely with Paul Wong recognize his achievements as a papermaker of exceptional, even sublime skill, and secondly as a collaborator working with artists, one on one, using the hand papermaking process to create world-class art. Over our forty-year friendship, it has been a thrill and an honor to watch Paul steadfastly hone his skills, challenge his problem-solving abilities, and time after time achieve a new level of mastery that he shares day in and day out with artists in the studio. As with many of his generation of hand papermakers, for Paul, it started in the mid-seventies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison with printmaking professor Walter Hamady. In the winter of 1976, there were so many graduate art students eager to work in handmade paper that Walter Hamady moved the school's hand papermaking equipment out of the type shop to an expanded facility that could accommodate students interested in exploring papermaking's two- and three-dimensional possibilities. As Paul remembers, at the start of the class, Hamady demonstrated making pulp by beating old sheets and clothes in a Valley lab beater, then showed everyone how to make a post of book-grade paper. Students were encouraged to explore the process and work independently on their art. Although Paul's interests and training were initially in printmaking, specifically fine lithography, he began to make uniquely constructed multiples that incorporated printed components on Japanese paper, Mylars, and other unconventional materials. His early exploration of the papermaking process focused on making three-dimensional elements out of paper pulp to create more sculptural components in his installations. In 1977, Joe Wilfer invited Paul to make his art at Wilfer's studio mill. There, Paul observed how Wilfer combined handmade paper imagery with relief printing, co-publishing projects with Bill Weege for visiting artists from New York City such as Alan Shields and Sam Gilliam. The inspiration took off. In the fall of 1978 Paul joined Dieu Donné in New York City. At first, he was involved in the ongoing production of paper made from cotton rag and linen. As Paul remembers, that was when he was exposed to systematic training in the traditional craft. At Dieu Donné, we experimented with different kinds of new cloth from the garment district, pure artist pigments, gelatin and internal sizing, and buffering agents to create lines of fine paper for drawing, printing, photography, and conservation. All of the research with fabric, coloring, sheet formation, and drying served as a tutorial in understanding the extraordinary range of the papermaking process. This period of experimentation became a resource of information for designing custom paper and for problem solving when collaborating with artists. Each artist provides an opportunity to learn more about the limitations and versatility of the papermaking process. Besides his papermaking training, it is clear that artists have benefited from Paul's experience as an artist working in painting, printmaking, and sculpture. Though it is now common practice to paint with pulp, Paul developed the use of squirt bottles and refined the preparation of linen pulp with "extenders" such as methyl cellulose and formation aid to create a rich painting palette and tools for artists such as Ken Polinskie, and more recently Eddie Martinez. Paul combined his working knowledge of papermaking and his experience as a sculptor to design air-drying methods for sculptor Joyce Schmidt whose work consists of embedded blocks of marble in newly formed cotton rag paper. In turn Paul has incorporated techniques he discovered working with artists at Dieu Donné into his own art practice. For example, some of the methods developed for Barbara Schwartz in 1981 using pigmented pulps on an armature inspired Paul to employ similar strategies in creating a major body of sculptural work in which he stretched vividly pulp-painted paper on armatures of vines and bamboo. In most cases, artists come to Dieu Donné unfamiliar with papermaking and frankly, sometimes wary of the process. Paul has had the delicate task of teaching them to understand how it can work for them, how to interpret their vision in the medium, and how to feel comfortable in the unknown. He is a true master at developing trust and getting the best out of the medium for each artist's vision. Rarely does an artist work in the studio with experience in papermaking that matches Paul's but Winifred Lutz's Lab Grant residency at Dieu Donné from 1998 to 1999 provided a unique opportunity for a peer-to-peer exchange. Lutz is well known for her distinctive solutions for casting high-shrink- age, translucent pulps such as flax and abaca to create relief and sculptural forms. Coupled with Paul's deep knowledge of producing two-dimensional imagery in paper, Lutz was able to create a beautiful body of work that melded the expertise of two masters of the medium. Though Paul's virtuosity as an interpreter is striking in oneon- one collaborations with artists working in very different mediums, he also excels at designing and producing custom sheets of paper. For decades, Paul has worked closely with numerous publishers such as ULAE, Vincent FitzGerald, Ben Shiff, and MoMA on custom paper for photography and fine print editions as well as artist books. Paul's first introduction to Richard Tuttle was in 1987 when May Castleberry asked Dieu Donné to create the paper for the Whitney Museum limited-edition book, Hiddenness. Paul described how Tuttle brought in some paper with a green paint drip and asked Paul how they could replicate the bubbly-drip image in paper pulp. Paul added methyl cellulose to pigmented- green pulp and agitated it to create bubbles as he poured the green pulp down the surface of a freshly formed white cotton sheet, held at just the right angle to duplicate the directional flow of the colored drip. For Hiddenness, as for many custom-designed sheets, Paul produces twenty percent more paper than required to ensure that the full run of paper is consistent with the artist's vision. Other noteworthy projects include a suite of eighteen watermarks Paul produced for William Kentridge's Sheets of Evidence in 2009. The fern embossed paper designed with Ted Muehling for a 2012 MoMA publication is as elegantly mysterious as the Oliver Sacks story it accompanies. Recently, Paul worked with Lesley Dill to design and edition 31 unique pages employing wa- Paul Wong in collaboration with Dieu Donné Lab Grant residency artist Ann Hamilton (far right) in 2012, at Dieu Donné's current location on 36th Street. Dieu Donné studio collaborator Amy Jacobs at center foreground; Valentina Vella, studio intern, looking on. Courtesy of Dieu Donné, New York. above: Chuck Close (far right), at Dieu Donné (433 Broome Street location), in 2001, during proofing of Self-Portrait/Pulp, with Paul Wong (left), Mae Shore (center), and Anne Polashenski (right). Courtesy of Dieu Donné, New York. termarks, metallic pigments, metal drying, and pulp painting on cotton and abaca sheets for the limited-edition book, I Had a Blueprint of History. The uniqueness and beauty of Paul's custom designs are matched by the integrity of the sheets of paper he produces; in this he has no peer. I asked Paul, what qualities does a good collaborator need to possess to help artists create their art and design their custom paper. First, he said a collaborator must be "egoless" and always remember that you are working on someone else's art. Next, you must be able to educate and expose artists new to the medium in a way that they can understand. It is also important not to impose your own ideas but to coax out of each artist an approach for them to make their own discoveries. Most of all, it is vital to help people overcome their insecurities about working in a new studio with unfamiliar assistants in a medium they are not accustomed to. As an example, Paul referred to Ursula von Rydingsvard who came to Dieu Donné. She is renowned for making stand-alone wood sculptures of monumental scale. As Paul introduced her to the intimacy of the medium and the capacity of paper pulp to support her vision, she "got it" and began to "start thinking for herself" without suggestions or guidance, ultimately producing a remarkable body of work quite different from her monolithic sculpture but nonetheless an accurate reflection of her inner voice and process. How can this knowledge, skill, and deep understanding of papermaking as a craft and as an art medium be passed on? At Dieu Donné, we have been concerned about this for many years. In 1978, I received a Tiffany grant to fund an apprenticeship for Paul when he first came to Dieu Donné. In 2006, we received funding from the NEA to develop curriculum and a method for teaching the next generation. Working closely with Paul for eighteen months, Steve Orlando documented many of the methods Paul has devised. Though Dieu Donné has some footage of Paul working with artists, it would be invaluable to film him demonstrating some of the techniques he has developed in a systematic way so that particular details like timing or sequence that might seem obvious but are often overlooked are recorded for future generations. Dieu Donné Studio Collaborator & Education Manager Amy Jacobs has been working alongside Paul since 2010. "One of my favorite things is listening to Paul tell stories about working with artists over the years, and then expanding into extremely specific details of how sometimes (or most of the time) the experimentation and mistakes are what lead to such innovative work in the wet studio." She continued, "\[Paul\] has given me confidence, as a mentor (and friend), to trust the skills and techniques that I've learned over the years to make me a better collaborator, artist, and instructor." She calls Paul her "paper guru." Every hand papermaker has a personal style and a philosophy that informs a distinctive aesthetic. Paul's artistic vision—drawn to translucency, reflectivity, and the unusual—along with his dedication and generosity in sharing his cumulative knowledge acquired over 35 years of collaboration and experience, have all helped to guide the style and far-ranging breadth of work produced at Dieu Donné, and to inspire others to explore the wide world of papermaking, continuing the life work of Paul Wong, our National Treasure.

‍