Trained as a painter, Richard Moninski received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Master of Fine Arts from the State University of New York at Albany.  He completed additional study in surface design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Upon completion of his graduate degree, he worked in various capacities for significant entities within the New York arts community, including Artists Space, the American Craft Museum (now Museum of Arts & Design), Curt Marcus Gallery and the installation artist Judy Pfaff. In 2000, he started Green Lantern Studios, a gallery exhibiting artists of the Upper Midwest, in Mineral Point, WI. He co-directs the gallery with his partner Carole Spelić.