Jas W Felter was born in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in New York State in 1943. He created his first mail art in 1958 and presented his first solo exhibition of oil paintings in 1961. Felter graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa in 1964 (BA, Fine Arts - Painting). Jas spent the following two years in Ecuador with the First Latin American Regional Arts and Crafts Program in the US Peace Corps. Upon returning to North America he attended the University of Washington in Seattle for post-graduate work in painting and the graphic arts, as well as Anthropology and Archaeology. In the Spring of 1968 he moved to Vancouver and in January of 1969 began a 16 year stint at Simon Fraser University where he taught visual communication, founded the Simon Fraser Art Gallery and established the University's collection of contemporary art. Since his departure from Simon Fraser in 1985 Jas has continued to pursue his activities in the visual arts.