I’m honored to be included in Hold the Door: Radical Contemporary Women Printmakers, featured in the November 2025 edition of SGC International’s Graphic Impressions online journal, and curated by book artist and sculptor IBe’ Crawley.

The exhibition brings together artists whose practices engage printmaking not only as a medium, but as a site of cultural participation, voice, and access. Being part of this group feels deeply meaningful — not simply as recognition, but as resonance. The questions shaping the exhibition are questions that continue to guide my own work:

Who gets access to creative spaces?

Whose voices are amplified?

What does it mean to make work that invites people to pay attention?

As part of the journal, my colleagues Jenn Graves and Melissa Blount and I also co-wrote the essay introducing the November 2025 edition of the Graphic Impressions journal, titled Cancelled. The essay reflects on the power of the press — historically and now — as a tool for resisting gatekeeping and expanding expression and possibilities. Print has always held this dual capacity: it can reinforce dominant narratives, or it can amplify new ones. The difference lies in who holds the press, and for the sake of whom and what it is used.

For me, printing and printmaking is never only about image or text. It is about expressing something that matters and should be shared. It insists on being seen..

To “hold the door” is a simple gesture. But it is also a profound one. It signals awareness, care, and responsibility. It says: there is room for you here.

I’m grateful to be part of a community of artists committed to that gesture — artists who understand that making is not separate from world-building, and that the studio can be a site of invitation as much as creation.

— Desiree Aspiras

View the exhibit here:

https://graphic-impressions.org/project/hold-the-door/

View the essay here:

https://graphic-impressionscorgcproject/cancelled-edition-introduction/

This week, there’s been an important development in the ongoing effort to bring accountability and change to the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum.

On October 13, 2025, the Windgate Foundation, which manages a $10 million endowment for Hamilton, sent a formal letter to the museum’s Board of Directors. In the letter, the Foundation repeated what so many artists, educators, and community members have been asking for: that the current executive board step down, and that a new, diverse board be appointed to guide the museum’s future.

For those of us who have been part of this call for change, the Foundation’s response feels deeply validating. It’s proof that collective action matters—that speaking up, even when it feels difficult or small, can move things that once seemed immovable.

I’m grateful to everyone who has helped bring us to this moment so far: the artists and allies who have shown courage, care, and persistence in demanding integrity from the institutions we love.

The coming weeks will be important ones. I hope the Hamilton Board will listen, take responsibility, and begin the real work of rebuilding trust and community.

READ THE LETTER from the Windgate Foundation
or visit wearehamfam.info

Published September 9, 2025

Two weeks ago, I announced my withdrawal from the Hamilton Wood Type Museum’s Wayzgoose 2025 event, citing the Hamilton Board’s mistreatment of Black artists and its pattern of unwelcoming, opaque decision-making. I was not alone. Artists across the program joined together in boycotting the event, calling for the resignation of the Board.

This collective action had impact. Today, the Hamilton Board announced the cancellation of Wayzgoose 2025, after all EIGHT keynote speakers withdrew in protest, more than half of the program presenters withdrew and many attendees canceled their registrations in solidarity.

This should have been a moment for reflection and accountability. Instead, the Board’s responses have been opaque, unapologetic, and dismissive of the harm caused to artists and the broader community. This lack of acknowledgment has only deepened the pain and distrust. To date, only one Board member has resigned.

Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum has a proud mission: “to preserve history for creative use today.” Its vision imagines a future that is inclusive, welcoming, community-minded, and transparent. Yet the current Board has betrayed those commitments through its actions, and its inaction.

The call from artists, community members, and allies remains clear: the current Board must step down. Hamilton deserves leadership rooted in equity, accountability, and care.

I am sharing this here to amplify that call, and to invite the wider arts, design, and printmaking communities to stand with us. Silence and inaction are not acceptable.

Hamilton has the potential to live fully into its mission—but only with new leadership willing to repair, rebuild trust, and act with integrity.

I hope they listen to our demand for change.

SIGN OUR PETITION
and learn more at wearehamfam.info

Published August 28, 2025

With deep disappointment, I’m withdrawing my participation from Wayzgoose 2025 at Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, which was scheduled for this November. I’d so looked forward to attending, to be in community, excited to be part of this year’s programming. How can I, & other BIPOC people and those with marginalized identities, now feel good or welcomed at Hamilton, knowing how Black artists & others are treated behind the scenes?

The Board’s mission declares that Hamilton “preserves history for creative use today.” Their vision imagines a future that is inclusive, welcoming, community-minded, & transparent. Yet their actions tell a different story: the cancellation of residencies & exhibitions by Black artists, & an ongoing pattern of unwelcoming & opaque decision-making, stand in stark contrast to the values the Board claims to uphold.

-> Having a diverse program for Wayzgoose does not absolve the Board of how these other artists were treated.

A museum that says it is welcoming should not disinvite Black artists. An institution that calls itself community-minded should not act with overt neglect for transparency or accountability. A board that claims to be inclusive would not so egregiously disrespect and disregard the dignity & creative contributions of artists of color.

MY WORDS ARE DIRECTED AT THE BOARD LEADERSHIP— *not* at staff, who deserve support & appreciation for their dedication to their work in running the museum & its programs.

I’ve written to the Board calling for them to:
- Commit to leadership change & appointment of new board members by the end of the year, including term limits & a transparent, community-accountable process
- Provide clarity & transparency about how new board members will be selected, ensuring the process reflects the diversity & values of the community.
- Issue a public apology to the artists (plural!) whose residencies and exhibitions were canceled, & to the wider community, acknowledging harm & naming how it will be repaired.
- Share a plan for how changes will be enacted in alignment with Hamilton’s stated values

I hope the Board engages in the process of growth Hamilton & its community want and deserve.

With sadness & hope for better,
Desiree

P.S. If you would like to support the efforts in calling for change at Hamilton, you sign our petition, and learn more about the situation at wearehamfam.info.

#wearehamfam

Published August 1, 2025

I’m honored to be presenting a workshop at this year’s Wayzgoose at the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, happening November 7–9, 2025.

The Shape of No: Refusal, Renewal, and Reflection Through Print
Historically, letterpress has often served as a medium for resistance, allowing people to assert their No against injustice and to affirm their identities and values through the printed word. In this workshop, participants will engage No as a generative practice. Through guided prompts, this workshop will explore what it means to approach No as a practice of discernment and alignment in our artmaking and lives. Participants will sense into the possibilities of No - no as refusal, no as protection, no as a space-maker, and no as a threshold.

You can sign up at the link above!

Published June 25, 2025

Two weeks at Hamilton @hamiltonwoodtypewith dear friends and fellow letterpress printers @jenngravesand @beingblount — what a gift!

We kicked things off before the residency started by attending the the @collegebookart conference, which filled us with energy and inspiration for exploring new processes and forms, and print and book structure ideas, for the residency ahead.

I returned to printing poetry, and started ideating for a couple books I am working on for an upcoming exhibit in the fall.

Loved playing with color and shape again, getting back on a Vandercook, and trying the larger presses for the first time!

Grateful for the time to create, slow down, and be in community with Jenn and Melissa. 🙏🏽✨

It was also so special to see how many came out for our artist talk. Grateful for the opportunity to talk about our work and what matters to us. What an engaging evening that was!

🗣️ ✨ An ultra loud thank you to @hello.stephanie@abslovesmuseums @ginatk @jenannetastic_outthere - they (and the amazing volunteers!) are the heart and soul that keeps this place running. We felt your care and support deeply throughout our residency. 💓

Excited to see what continues to unfold as a result of our time and play here. ✨

Farewell, Hamilton! See you at the #Wayzgoose in November!!

#letterpresslove #letterpresscommunity #bookartscommunity#hamiltonwoodtype #poetryinprint #creativeprocess#artistresidency #womeninprint #vandercook

Published August 21, 2023

I am honored to have been a participant in the first BIWOC gathering at the Hamilton Wood Type Museum. Read more about it on the museum’s blog here! I’ll be writing more about the experience soon.

On Sunday, June 17th, I’ll be starting a #100dayproject - 100 Days of Mission Bay, a daily journal/sketchbook which will serve as the foundation for a poetry and printmaking art project about Mission Bay and my relationship to this place.

I have been enjoying Mission Bay ever since I was child, when my father used to take me and my siblings there. Now, as an adult, I still go to Mission Bay - to run, to think, to wander, to grieve, to play - and I take my own children there too. It has been a place to exhale and to feel fresh air on my face. I love Mission Bay!

For this 100 Day Project, I will create and post a haiku, poem or image each day inspired by the natural beauty, wildlife, plants, and people at Mission Bay and my experiences there.

Mission Bay is a saltwater bay/lagoon located in San Diego, California. This 4,600-acre aquatic/recreational area is the largest of its kind in the country. Surrounded by 27 miles of meandering shoreline, it has variety of beaches, waterways, inlets and islets to explore.

Join me on my journey on Instagram at @100daysofmissionbay

I am excited to announce that I have been selected to participate in Tiferet Journal's Poem-A-Thon. Tiferet is a multi-faith literary magazine dedicated to bringing you closer to spirit, in all its manifestations, through the written word. Each year, in honor of National Poetry Month, Tiferet presents this special event, which is meant to inspire a group of writers committed to write a poem a day for 30 days. Poets from all over the world participate in the event.

The Poem-A-Thon is also Tiferet's biggest fundraiser of the year. As a Poem-a-thon participant, I am asked to raise $100 in donations from friends and family members. Just like a walk or run for a charitable cause, but this time to support my writing and Tiferet Journal!

Please consider supporting our creative efforts by clicking on this “Sponsor a poet” link. Be sure to enter D.D. Aspiras as the poet you are sponsoring.

My daily poems will be shared on my poetry blog.

Please stop by daily to check out all the poetry!

My artist book "Into the Fires & the Stars" (of original letter-pressed haiku) is currently on view in the Words With Wings exhibit at The Francis Parker School's Rose Art Gallery from January 16 to February 16, 2018. As part of a school wide poetry week, the gallery is hosting work by various printmakers dedicated to celebrating the printed word in poetry and artist books. Poetry week runs February 5 - 9, culminating with a poetry salon with former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins on Thursday, February 8 at 6:30pm. For more information, please visit https://www.francisparker.org/page/news-detail?pk=982156&fromId=213589.

Two of my poems are featured as examples in an article on the renga form on Her Heart Poetry's website in the Poetry Forms section. Renga, meaning linked poem, is a traditional Japanese poetry form from the genre of collaborative poetry. Check out the article!
Her Heart Poetry / Poetry Forms: Renga