William Hubert Givler studied at the Museum Art School in 1925-1926, befriending fellow student Louis Bunce. Both enrolled at the Art Students League in New York, studying there in 1927-1931. Both became legendary instructors at the Museum School, and together they helped connect Portland with the New York art scene.

Givler returned to the Art Students League to study lithography in 1937; that year, he convinced the Museum Art School to buy a printing press, and he founded the lithography and intaglio program. He taught printmaking for years, established the first Print Annual at the Portland Art Museum in 1949, and demonstrated that printmaking can be a rich complement to painting. Several of his students, including Charles Heaney and George Johanson, emulated his practice of being both printmakers and painters.

Givler exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions regionally and nationally. His work is in the collections of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Victoria and Albert Museum, Boston Public Library, Portland art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, Oregon Capitol, Timberline Lodge,  Hallie Ford Museum of Art (Willamette University), Jordan Schnitzer Musuem of Art (University of Oregon), Mills College, and other institutions and corporations. The William H. Givler Thesis Award in Fine Arts is presented to outstanding students at the Pacific Northwest College of Art.