Morgan Bulkeley was born in the Berkshires of Massachusetts in 1944. He was raised on a small farm in the town of Mount Washington, where his parents, both naturalists, raised many wild, orphaned animals. He graduated from Yale University in 1966 with a BA in English Literature. After a stint in the Coast Guard, he spent a year in Newark, NJ, drawing, and working with VISTA programs. Subsequently, he spent fourteen years in Cambridge, MA, painting and sculpting.