"Bierk graduated from high school in 1962 and joined the National Guard.Initially he studied at California College of Arts & Crafts,, Bierk dropped out after a year and half, and as he described it, "...I took off, hitchhiked across the country, ended up in Florida, and then caught a boat to the Bahamas...I got a job as librarian at...Mary Star of the Sea School, a Catholic grammar school, where I persuaded Sister Mary Alice to let me teach art as well."