Robert Shank was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and currently resides in Edina. He began his academic career studying political science at the University of Minnesota and was admitted to the University of Minnesota Law School with intentions of pursuing constitutional law. Shortly before classes began, however, Shank recognized that his path lay elsewhere.

Although he had drawn cartoons, cowboys, and detectives throughout his childhood and taken art classes each year in high school, it was not until he attended an exhibition by a California Abstract Expressionist on campus that he reconsidered art as a serious pursuit. He returned to school to study studio art and, encouraged by the head of the department after a review of his work, went on to earn his MFA. Shank began teaching at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul, where he instructed foundational art courses for students entering clothing and interior design programs. It was there that he met his wife and began refining both his pedagogy and studio practice.