E. [Edward] Thor Carlson was born in Gardner, Massachusetts on September 18, 1925. He has drawn since childhood and began to paint in oils at the age of ten. His first murals were painted in 1942-43 for the Gardner High School auditorium. Upon graduation, he received a scholarship to attend the Art School of the Worcester Art Museum. He studied with Herbert Barnett and Leon Hovesepian. His studies were interrupted by WWII and a hitch in the Navy as a Sea Bee in the South Pacific.