The following was compiled and written by Jean Ershler Schatz, artist and researcher from Laguna Woods, California:Eric Fischl was born in New York City in 1948. He grew up, one of four children, in the suburban Long Island community of Port Washington. His father was a salesman, his mother a housewife who was also an alcoholic. He spent a brief period as a flower child in San Francisco. His interest in art began in 1968 when he worked in Phoenix, Arizona delivering patio furniture and became friends with a fellow truck driver who was attending art school. Fischl attended Junior College and then Arizona State University where he studied with Bill Swain who encouraged him to apply to CalArts. He earned a B...