“REVIVING CALICO BLOCK PRINTING FROM WITHIN THE HISTORIC MILLS”
The artist known as halfavo is a Dover, New Hampshire born creative who has cherished making art through a variety of media and movement since they were an adolescent. In the fall of 2023, through a serendipitous series of events, they relocated to the mills of downtown Dover. Shortly after their arrival, and with no conscious correlation, halfavo’s artistic focus shifted towards printmaking, and this is when their unexplainable, uncontrollable, fascination with the subject began.
Known as a mixed-use property today, housing a variety of commercial and residential spaces, the Cocheco Mills were once revered as the driving force behind the seacoast’s industrial advancement through their textile productions. Calico, known as a variety of cotton fabric in England, became the name in America for printed fabric featuring repetitive, commonly floral, patterns. In 1826, within the mills, Cocheco Printworks employed skilled artisans who made calico by hand printing the patterns onto cotton textiles from carved and inked wooden blocks. In 1827, more advanced tools, machinery, and tradesmen were brought to the mills from England, and the journey towards large scale manufacturing of calico began. More mills were built and mass production was rapidly prioritized over craftsmanship. Manual printing was replaced with cylinder printing machines, and the craft of hand block printing calico became a lost art form in Dover by the end of the 1840s.
This story of the mills was unknown by halfavo until their own block printing obsession led them down a research rabbit hole. It was upon the discovery of this history that they felt destined to be in the Cocheco Mills, and to revive the lost tradition of calico block printing from within the establishment it was forgotten. And so, the artist conceptualized the Cocheco Printwork Project.
The artist’s objective of pursuing this project is to revive the lost tradition of calico block printing from within the historic Cocheco Mills of Dover, New Hampshire, while recording the project for educational purposes.
As a Cocheco Mills resident, the artist will design, carve, and print calico textiles inspired by the same mill tradition of the 1800s. The concentration will allow the artist structured time to focus on this design style of local and global historic importance while broadening their printmaking skills throughout the study. Their findings, process, and final collection of work will be thoroughly documented in multiple formats and made public for the people of Dover, and other communities, to learn and benefit from through the artist's website, halfavo.com. A donation of the project’s final publication will be made to various local institutions, including the Dover Public Library.
Throughout the four week project the artist will be documenting their experience through written journals and video recording. They may enlist volunteer assistance in the filming and video editing of the project’s documentation.
Pre-Project: Outreach & Supply Ordering
There are tasks that must be completed before the project is able to commence, such as outreach to the community to bring awareness to the project. Supplies will have to be ordered in advance to ensure on-time arrival. As mentioned in the subsequent section, archives and rights to film also need to be requested ahead of time.
Week One: Research & Writing
During the first week of the project the artist will attempt to visit all of the following locations to conduct research on the early history of the Cocheco Mills with the goal to better understand how the hand printed process of block printing calico was done in Dover in the 1800s. If applicable, archived materials will be requested prior to visits so that the artist is able to access and take notes on relative resources. The artist will also request permission to film aspects of their experiences within each institution.
The artist will compile their findings into an organized and cited resource to publish on their website halfavo.com, free for the public to access.
Week Two: Design & Carving
Through the research gathered on week one, the artist will create their own renditions of calico designs based on the historic styles, which they will transfer onto wooden blocks. From their own previous experience in printmaking, the artist estimates that the carving process will take the longest to complete out of every aspect of the project. With this in mind, they hope to spend one whole day designing their calico, allotting the majority of the week carving the designs. Once their designs are on the wooden blocks, the artist will meticulously carve away wood until only the design remains, creating a sort of wooden stamp. This “stamp” is what is referred to as the block in wood block printing. The artist’s goal is to make four distinctly designed calico. Each design will result in the production of multiple meters of calico. As someone who has not worked with the material before, they are consciously erring on the side of caution when predicting the amount of calico they will be able to produce. If time allows they will be pleased to do additional design, carve, and print work!
Week Three: Calico Printing
Printing such massive sections of multi-colored calico will require quite the set up. An array of large trays will be needed to hold ink and meters of printed cloth will need to be able to air dry. The artist predicts it may take a full day’s work to set up and perform test prints to fully understand the best way of executing the work within their space constraints. Once they feel confident in their process, the artist will proceed to print their calico throughout the week!
Week Four: Video Editing & Publication Layout
While the calico dries, the artist will begin the process of organizing and editing videos. The final videos will be made into educational resources, published on their website halfavo.com, free for the public to access. Depending on the amount of content generated by this time, the artist may enlist help from a volunteer to assist in the time consuming process.
During the project’s final week the artist will also put together the layout for The Cocheco Printwork Project Zine, a publication encompassing a wide variety of printable content from and inspired by the month’s work. The zine could include materials such as research, notes, pictures, stories, poems, illustrations, journal entries, etc.… whatever the artist feels must be included at the time!
The artist will make an announcement via their website halfavo.com regarding the fulfillment of the project and an ETA of when the project’s publication will be available.
Once the final week of the project concludes, the artist will continue their outreach in hopes of finding a location where some of the finished calico can be displayed for the public to view and enjoy!
Because of the time restraints of this project, the artist will be focusing their concentration throughout the project specifically on the process of hand block printing calico. Although this specific project does not touch on the countless other aspects of the Cocheco Mills’ history, the artist does wish to recognize that the mills are shrouded with an extremely disturbing past. The once taken land on which they were built were the scenes of violent crimes against Native Americans. Cotton which the mills processed, and eventually made calico, were surely sourced from slave labor. Children were forced into dangerous and sometimes fatal work. Women laborers were treated unfairly and punished for voicing their distress. Immigrants seeking opportunity were exploited. The artist strongly condemns the horrific history of the mills, and the artist, and this project, in no way condones any of the inhumane aforementioned events.
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