Starting out life in a small religious community in the Ozark Hills seems to have predestined artist Jesse Cox for a life outside the norm. In her 30 years on the planet, Jesse has lived in several rural hippie communes, urban housing cooperatives, and in a short-lived attempt at reclaiming her roots, with the Amish. She is an activist, painter, writer, and teacher.

Currently Jesse has a series of historical coloring books (A History for the People’s Children) in the process of publication (see children's section). She is working on her next two shows, a series of exotic dancers in pastel based on Degas' ballerinas, and an in-depth look at women in community encompassing portraits, still lifes, and collage. She is also developing a deck of cards in conjunction with her books. Her most recent solo shows have been Unstripped and What Women Know, both at the Good Girl Art Gallery in Springfield, Missouri, and she is currently showing as a part of the Sex Work Visions II collection at Arena Studios in New York, NY.

When she is not in community, Jesse divides her time between mentoring at-risk teens by day, and working as an exotic dancer by night. (No one escapes student loans). She writes in transit, sketches in the dressing room, and paints at home with her two cats.