Who Are We?
About the Founder:
Precious
Jennings
Precious Jennings was raised in the Heartland of America where arts and agriculture is the defining factor of the community. This recognition leads her back to her own family history where four generations of self-made farmers in Central Iowa sustainably worked the land. She grew-up learning how to sew, knit, fix her own equipment, tend a garden and fruit trees. For the past decade she has focused on spinning fibers and foraging plant materials for natural dye in relation to her performance practice in dance and experimental theater. In 2007 she joined the Theater and Dance faculty at Columbia College Chicago.
During the pandemic, she grew her artistic practice to include building tools for processing Hemp fiber while conducting research on the developing industry surrounding American-grown fibers and dye and learning to grow indigo and processing concerning the community. She is an innovator at heart, and this dye is transformative.
She is currently based in Charleston SC, where she continues to develop 20+ years of her site-specific interdisciplinary performance practice that integrates history, movement, media arts and agriculture. Her next showing of Align the Fibers : Object Permanence with collaborator Megan Schneeberger, will be premièring with a 100% home-grown food, indigo and fiber soiree in Spring 2024. Additionally she is leading an on-going community build of canoes and kayaks that will hopefully culminate in the show Align the Fibers : Trees : Indigo : Object Permanence in the 2024/25 in Chicago, IL.
Megan Ruble
Megan is a team leader, and large account manager at Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield. She is a liaison for customers to other Wellmark professionals in health services, wellness, finance, membership, enrollment, customer service claims, analytics, and reporting. She has Master of business administration degree from the University of Iowa and Bachelor of Arts degree in Finance from the University of Northern Iowa.
Rob Darby
Rob grew up in the Charleston area and graduated from Wando High School in 1999. After high school, he attended Clemson University, graduating magna cum laude with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. After Clemson, Rob attended the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was on the Editorial Board of the Virginia of Law and Technology. Following law school, Rob spent four years in California working at Irell & Manella, a high-stakes law firm, where he assisted clients through all stages of civil litigation – including on intellectual property, fraud, employment, and consumer protection matters. Rob moved back to Charleston in 2013, and, upon returning, he spent time volunteering as Guardian ad litem, acquired a South Carolina real estate broker's license, and worked at a private equity company in the real estate sector. After a short stint in real estate, Rob went back to practicing law, working for four years as a staff attorney at Charleston Legal Access, a non-profit law firm, where he provided legal representation in a variety of matters to moderate and low-income clients. Rob currently works as a senior associate at the Fenno Law Firm in Mount Pleasant. Rob lives on Sullivans Island with his daughter, Everette, and their dog Buddy and enjoys playing volleyball in his free time.