photos by Cindy Steele
Pamela Keech
and The Emerald Pencil
~ by Lee Edgren
The Emerald Pencil— the shop, studio, and home at the northeast corner of Jefferson and Main Streets in Nashville— is the latest result of Pamela Keech’ s gift for following her bliss. No one could accuse Keech of coloring within the lines of predictability. This is what makes a visit to her shop and studio and a conversation with this“ artist, curator, and writer” a rich experience.
“ I didn’ t start out to have a store,” Keech explains.“ I wanted a place to have a studio, but this space had to be a shop, and it was perfect for me. I’ m in love with old things that have history attached to them and I love things that are unusual, Every thing here has been carefully collected and curated for a variety of reasons. When customers come in, I give them some of the history.”
Looking for a memorable name that would“ come up on Google really fast,” she found that she was drawn to those with two words,“ one a color, one having to do with what I do. My drawings are important to me. I love to hold a pencil. And in 2013 Emerald was the Pantone color of the year.” Both the Emerald Pencil’ s collection of objects and pricespectrum are wide. Old tintypes sit comfortably with artists’ books and contemporary jewelry. Handmade quilts are slotted one by one in under-window shelves, and antique whisk brooms line the central staircase. Pieces of Cambridge glass, which link Keech to her her mother’ s life in Guernsey County, Ohio, catch the light from high windows facing three directions.
The Emerald Pencil’ s precise eclecticism is of a piece with Keech’ s taste and curatorial skill. She was an art major in college, taking, she says,“ five years to become a sophomore.” She eventually dropped out, hitchhiked around the country, and created a clothing business in Atlanta.
She and her business partner sewed“ bellbottoms with lace and
56 Our Brown County • May / June 2015