Mel Stockwell owns and operates The Calico Press, a small printshop on her farm in Southeast Iowa. When her career of 18 years in Print & Design was shaken by the recession in 2010, Mel took advantage to gather her print belongings to one location and open her own doors for business. To say that her business is multi-faceted is an understatement. Mel’s daily to-do list ranges from designing brochures to carving linoleum to restoring antique printing presses. In 1988, she was first introduced to an etching press at Coe College where she earned her BA. Together with her farm upbringing and knowledge of metal working, a passion ignited. That passion has grown to include all aspects of printing: providing quality letterpress works, fine art prints, computer generated graphic design, and preserving early print-related processes by instructing classes throughout the US.

In addition to running her own print shop, Mel is also the Director of Villages Folk School, a member of Printers’ Hall in Mt. Pleasant, the Amalgamated Printers Assoc., Fort Madison Area Arts Assoc. and Fairfield Art Assoc. She has taught classes at the Ladies of Letterpress and Amalgamated Printers Assoc. annual conferences; as well as Hamilton Wood Type Museum & several midwest high schools, colleges and universities. She is active with the Iowa Arts Council and creative placemaking within Van Buren County.

Mel enjoys working on trucks, hunting, spending time with family and apparently anything heavy, greasy, rusty, or hard to move.