Greg Colson was born in Seattle, Washington in 1956 but grew up in Bakersfield, California. He attended California State University, Bakersfield for his BFA, graduating in 1978, and then went on to attend Claremont Graduate University, graduating with his MFA in 1980. In Bakersfield, Colson studied under John McCracken, Joe Goode, Ed Ruscha, James Turrell, and Ed Moses, among others, as each were visiting artists while he was a student. During the 1980s, Colson apprenticed in the studios of Vija Celmins, Ed Ruscha, and Tom Wudl.