Cliff attended the University of Nebraska-Omaha, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 1963. In 1996, he was awarded a Citation for Alumnus Achievement Award from the University.
In 1995, he accepted the position as an artist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and worked there until he retired in 1996 to immerse himself in wildlife art. This afforded him the time to expand and create sculptures in wood, bronze and stainless steel.
Over the four and a half decades that he has been sculpting artwork, he has received recognition for his work. He won Best of Show at the Ward Foundation World Championship Wildfowl Competition in Ocean City, Maryland; became a Viking of Distinction from North High School in Omaha, Nebraska and received the 2009 Lincoln Mayor’s Art Award from the Lincoln Art Council.
Cliff had a six month one-man-show in Morrill Hall at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He worked with the National Science Foundation on sculpting Galapagos finches for their Explore Evolution Gallery also located at Morrill Hall and five other major Universities.
Two special visitors to Omaha, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of West Germany and the ambassador from China, were each presented with a commissioned duck sculpted by Cliff.
His outdoor public sculptures are located in various places: a Red-Tail Hawk at the Fallbrook Village Square in Fallbrook, California and also at the San Diego River Park; an Eagle, a Heron and two wood ducks at the Lincoln (Nebraska) Children’s Zoo; a flock of five turkeys at Quarry Oaks Golf Course in South Bend, Nebraska; and various waterfowl and songbirds in the Morrill Hall dioramas in Lincoln, Nebraska.
