Owned and operated by Megan Brown, The Pretty Pickle’s pressed botanicals have become a household staple throughout the North Central Region of West Virginia.
A longtime educator, Brown set her hand to the plow in 2010 after being named a Tamarack Artisan for the Appalachian Tamarack in Beckley, West Virginia. Her art is displayed as one of only a couple thousand Appalachian artists from all 55 counties in the state.
Brown is a self-taught artist and entrepreneur. She credits her father for encouraging her to experiment with resin. After a few successful trials with pressed botanicals, she determined to begin sealing and selling her natural art online.
In Brown’s own words, “We make nature wearable.”
Her artistry has evolved from botanicals to resin-sealed insect jewelry and botanical wall hangings. Like birthstones, Brown sells birth-flowers, which serve a similar purpose yet portray a different approach to bodily adornments.
Brown has been creative from her youth and celebrates her parents’ support. As creatives themselves, they have been a steady voice of encouragement for her over the years.
One of her most obscure pieces was a jewelry piece made out of the wings of cicadas from the 2017 awakening in North Central West Virginia. The process took several weeks to complete but became an immediate bestseller.
Today, Brown hopes to keep up the steam she has built around her company by opening a new studio near her home, continuing to perfect her craft, and beginning to curate product lines in anticipation of the reopening of festivals and shows which were previously closed due to the pandemic.
If you’d like to keep up with Megan Brown at The Pretty Pickle, you can visit www.theprettypickle.com.
Listen to the full podcast here: https://positivelywv.com/podcast/episode-189-megan-brown-the-pretty-pickle/
PWV QUICK BITS | MEGAN BROWN
- RECOMMENDED RESOURCE: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
- PIECE OF ADVICE: “When you love what you’re doing, you want to go to do it,” said Brown.