Chairman’s Message
by James Abruzzo
On behalf of the staff and the Board of Directors, I am pleased to welcome Dona Warner as the new Executive Director of Dieu Donné Papermill. Dona assumed her role on November 3rd and has gracefully immersed herself in Dieu Donné’s busy fall schedule including the Editions and Artists Books Fair and our edition release party and brunch for Lesley Dill.

Dona comes to Dieu Donné Papermill with a long, distinguished career as an artist collaborator and the Director of the Johnson Atelier where she worked with some of the best-known contemporary artists, helping them to realize their visions in sculpture. In addition to her work with artists, she has had responsibilities of managing a large staff, strategy and business development, and finances and grants for the Atelier. In addition to her twenty-five plus years of experience at the Atelier, Dona was trained as an artist and holds a degree from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in sculpture and ceramics.

When Mina announced to me over the summer that she and her husband Marco Breuer planned to relocate from New York City by summer 2004, I formed an ad hoc search committee to commence the search for a new executive director. I want to express my most sincere thanks to that committee chaired by Olivier Griot whose members included Janice DeYoung, Susan Gosin, Margaret Hunt, and Stephen Yablon. They interviewed a number of candidates and unanimously decided that Dona would be perfect as Dieu Donné’s new senior management. I also want to extend the board’s thanks to the entire staff for their ongoing hard work and dedication to building the institution, and in addition, to Brett Littman, our former Executive Director of Administration who has agreed to assist in the leadership transition. Furthermore, we are in the enviable position of having Mina working with Dona through next May, promising a smooth and efficient transition.

We are all very excited about the future of Dieu Donné and look forward to your continued support and participation in the future.

Director’s Message and Dieu Donné Papermill Update
By Mina Takahashi
To follow up on James’ message, I too want to extend a very warm welcome to our new Executive Director Dona Warner and to thank everyone for being a part of my life during my fourteen-year tenure here at Dieu Donné. These many years at the Mill have been an incredibly rewarding time for me. It has been such a pleasure and an honor to have worked with Sue Gosin and Paul Wong all of these years, as well as our hard-working, committed staff, our dedicated board members, all of the amazing artists who have come through our doors over the years, donned rubber boots, and made fabulous work with us on the wet-floor, and Dieu Donné’s many loyal friends and supporters. I will remain at Dieu Donné until the end of May 2004 as executive director of programs, and afterwards intend on contributing to Dieu Donné and to the field at large in new ways in the future. There is so much wonderful news to report, so let me conclude by saying thanks to everyone again for your support and friendship over the years and welcome Dona to the Dieu Donné family!

TAKE OUT: DIEU DONNÉ PAPERMILL’S BENEFIT EVENT
What an incredible event we had a few weeks ago! We "took out" our annual benefit event from the Mill this year to the Grand Harmony Palace banquet hall in Chinatown on October 22, 2003. This new venue enabled us to host over 300 friends at the event and provided a festive setting for the lively bidding. We are very pleased to announce that the event netted over $70,000 for our artistic and educational programs, and from that total, we raised $11,000 in the "fund-a-lot" specifically towards artist residencies at Dieu Donné Papermill. Many thanks to all of the artists who contributed works to our live and silent auctions and to all who attended the event or bidded from afar. We were privileged again this year to have the great Hugh Hildesley from Sotheby’s conduct the live auction. We would also like to recognize the support of our event sponsors: North Fork Bank, American Express, DHR International, and Brooklyn Brewery. We thank all of the members of the Benefit Committee who helped to organize the event, with special thanks to Breck Hostetter who did a stellar job coordinating all of the details of Take Out.

NEW EDITIONED PROJECT WITH LESLEY DILL
We are pleased to announce the publication of Head, a sculptural multiple by Lesley Dill. The edition in its entirety including proofs is installed in the Gallery at Dieu Donné Papermill through December 20, 2003 (and don’t miss the subtle wall drawing that accompanies the sculptural installation!). This edition stems from a body of work in which Dill layered cut letters to make a figure in relief. For this project, which originated in an Artist Sponsorship residency at Dieu Donné Papermill, the artist worked with project director Jan Drojarski to create a human bust in the round using die-cut paper letters. Each head consists of 1,100+ letters hand cast into rubber molds, spelling the word RADIANCE approximately 137 times. Dill then attached threads to the eyes and torso in different color combinations. Head is displayed on a tea-stained, muslin-covered shelf. There are 25 "heads" in the edition and currently available for $4,200 each.

This is what Lesley Dill writes about her thoughts on "radiance": Radiance is a fierce word for me, not a soft one. When we breathe and when we speak we divide light. Speech is given out of our mouths and off of our bodies as a kind of radiance. These human rays of targeted meaning reach out and allow for a separation of the physical luminous heat. Radiance implies a concentration of energy in an object, or person, that by nature of its intensity must fling out, must expand so it is discernible as deserving this word. I find I think or say this to myself a few times a day. Repetitive use of language can be obsessive and nervous (Kafka "I am a hesitation before birth, my life is a hesitation before birth"), explanatory ("I have given my whole life to words, chewed this dog hunger into a long meal"), mantra like in a soothing indecipherable way, or a linguistic touchstone – a word or words that locate you regardless of setting. Or more – inner word(s) as song. The power of language to affect as private murmur is so varied and complex. I find I often use the same language over and over, and for me, it always seems to mean something different, and something is learned. (Summer 2003)

NY PRINT WEEK
Many thanks to those who stopped by our booth at the Editions and Artist Book Fair (EAB) which was held in the Starett Lehigh Building from November 6th through the 9th. It was our first time presenting at EAB and we enjoyed showing our editions and multiples along with 30 other publishers and galleries. The quality overall was very high with everyone showing wonderful new projects – it was hard for collectors to choose! We look forward to participating in the fair on an annual basis.

In conjunction with EAB and NY Print Week, Dieu Donné hosted a brunch for Lesley Dill to celebrate the publication of her new sculptural multiple, Head. The brunch spread included homemade cupcakes and sugar cookies spelling out "r-a-d-i-a-n-c-e." Those in attendance were treated to a reading by Tom Sleigh who selected poems he had written that reflected his response to Dill’s installation in the gallery. Sleigh, who whimsically likened the constellation of Dill’s heads to viewers at a drive-in theatre, is the author of five books of poetry and recipient of numerous awards including the 1999 Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America and most recently, a 2003 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

DIEU DONNÉ ART ON VIEW
We are pleased to announce that two of our recent projects are now on view at the International Print Center of New York (IPCNY): the Dieu Donné Editions Club piece by James Brown entitled "The Cut Stems" and "Thinking In Water," our watermarked edition with William Kentridge which is installed in a specially-designed light table. Also look for R.G. Brown’s ready-to-assemble boat entitled "Oko Ené Banse" which is printed on watermarked Dieu Donné linen paper.

Dieu Donné is delighted to be featured on the cover of two recent publications: the Chuck Close print retrospective exhibition catalogue and the journal Art On Paper. The large-scale Chuck Close self-portrait that was published by Pace and editioned at Dieu Donné in 2001 is the cover image of Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration by Terrie Sultan of the Blaffer Gallery, The Art Museum of the University of Houston, published by Princeton University Press. The catalogue also features step-by-step photographs of the editioning process on our wet-floor and an interview that includes Dieu Donné Artistic Director Paul Wong. (We have copies of the catalogue available for sale at Dieu Donné.) The current issue of Art On Paper presents Arlene Shechet’s sculptural paperworks on its cover and a beautiful spread inside of two-dimensional works, all of which were produced by Shechet in collaboration with Paul Wong at Dieu Donné. (For more information, go to www.artonpaper.com.)

RECENT GRANTS
Dieu Donné Papermill is proud to announce that since our last ePULP, we received continued support from the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, the Kunstadter Family Foundation, the Starr Foundation, and the Peter Norton Family Foundation. We also wanted to thank JPMorganChase Foundation for their increased general operating support in a multi-year grant.

MORE STAFF NEWS
In addition to Dona Warner, we welcome our new studio assistant Yuko Tonohira who received her BFA from Parsons in the spring and then interned with us this past summer. When Yuko is not making paper at Dieu Donné, she is drawing colon and rectal medical illustrations for Cornell University. We also wanted to take this opportunity to belatedly introduce Trisha Gryzmolowicz who has been our gallery assistant on Saturdays for the past six months. She is currently in the MFA Program for Painting at Pratt University and is an elementary art school teacher in New Jersey.

WWW.DIEUDONNE.ORG
We continue to regularly update the Dieu Donné Papermill website with off-site exhibitions featuring artwork created at Dieu Donné, new images of artists in the studio, and new artist offerings. For instance, we recently uploaded images of works by Jackie Battenfield, Melvin Edwards, Iain Machell, and Jonathan Seliger. To get to these images, click on "artists" on the homepage and scroll down to find the artist’s name.

Our email delivery system is on an opt-out basis, so if at anytime you do not want to receive our emails please feel free to send an unsubscribe message to breck@dieudonne.org.

Photos from top to bottom:Dona Warner; Take Out guests: Virva Hinnemo, George Negroponte, Sue Gosin, Max and Laurie Munn; Take Out guests: Arlene, Shechet, Abby Leigh, Mina Takahashi, Lesley Dill; Lesley Dill, Head (detail); Dill installation; Dill installation; Dieu Donné Papermill booth at the Editions and Artists Books Fair; Tom Sleigh; James Brown, The Cut Stems