Though Nate Jessup had already been introduced to the joys of painting by his first grade teacher, Ms Dottie Andrews, it wasn't until his mother met an encyclopedia salesman who also happened to a student at the Yale School of Fine Arts that things really fell into place. Mrs Jessup had the foresight to hire the salesman/student as an art tutor to her son, and during one particular session, while "filling in a patch of sky." Jessup realized he wanted to be a serious artist.He eventually enrolled at Yale himself, just after the exit of Josef Albers. Fortunately, many of the former department head's students were still present, and Nate enjoyed Albers' influence through them. After completing his art studies at Yale, Jessup enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania to pursue a BFA. While enrolled at Penn, Jessup was able to have his work critiqued by early New York school artists including Barnett Newman and Rothko. SImilar to the situation at Yale, Nate arrived the year after Clyfford Still had wrapped up teaching at the university, but Still's influence remained and affected Jessup greatly. While at Penn, Nate worked with Neil Welliver and with Knox Martin for a time. While many of Jessup's fellow students were beginning their fine are careers, he elected not to, observing that "the career demands seemed incompatible with the purpose of doing art in the first place." In 1965, Jessup was granted a two-month residency at Yaddo to paint without distraction, which resulted in his minimalist Space series. Nate has painted off and on over the decades, and worked in a variety of positions from sales and IT to managing galleries in Denver and NY. He also sold antique fine art prints for a time. Nate's only exhibition prior to coming to Soft Water was a self-organized studio exhibition in Soho in the late 1980's, which he deemed successful. For the past quarter-century, Jessup has maintained a working studio in the area.