For the past 50 years Giffey has worked as an artist, journalist, and photographer. He didn’t study art formally and began his visual art career as a street vendor in Austin, Texas. Major visual art projects include icons and murals in Greek Orthodox Christian churches, community centers, schools, and public buildings in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Greece, as well as a series of paintings based on his experiences in the Vietnam War. He has also painted hundreds of easel paintings as commissioned for private and public collections. He designed the Mourning Dove Effigy Mound at the Highground Veterans Memorial Park in Clark County.
Until 2012, Giffey edited the Home News weekly newspaper, Spring Green, Wisconsin. His weekly columns won a 2008 Wisconsin Newspaper Association first place award and Golden Dozen Awards in 2010 and 2012 from the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors. Giffey is an active member of Veterans for Peace Chapter 25. He lives in rural Iowa County with his wife Nancy.
