By Louise Irvine

As a Pisces star sign, I am drawn to fish of all kinds, along with my husband George, who is also a Pisces! Not surprisingly, Anna Paola Cibin’s visions of the Venetian lagoon cast a spell on me when I first saw her velvet paintings at the Palm Beach Jewelry, Art & Antique Show. Anna will be back at this year’s Art and Antiques show, with more of her dreamlike artwork. She is also one of the stars of our upcoming Splash exhibition at WMODA, which opens on February 21. Meet Anna at the opening event!

Anna Paola Cibin paints shoals of fish on silky white velvet from Lake Como, Italy, which she dyes herself with natural pigments and ancient powders in the old-fashioned Venetian way. She loves working with velvet because it is “fluid, tender, and plays with the light,” and she enriches the fabric with vibrant colors and gold leaf embellishments. The magical finishing touches to her paintings of fish are their luminous Murano glass eyes, which sparkle in Anna’s watery fantasies.

Anna was born in Venice and her work is rooted in the cultural heritage of La Serenissima. She reinterprets the historical techniques and craftsmanship used for precious Venetian fabrics and glittering Murano glass with an innovative approach. Her mother was a dressmaker specializing in theatrical costumes, so she was introduced to fabrics at an early age. Her father had a passion for woodwork, and as a child, she followed him around his furniture restoration workshop, learning about his craft.

Anna studied weaving at the Institute of Venice and later explored the history of ancient Venetian tapestry, perfecting her distinctive painting technique. She briefly moved to London, where she honed her skills as a textile designer. She has designed patterns for Rubelli, founded in 1781, and her work was acquired for the Palazzo Mocenigo Textile Museum’s permanent collection in Venice.

Upon her return to Venice, Anna worked with the master glassblowers of Murano for several years, including at Vetreria Vistosi. She collaborated closely with Silvano Signoretto, brother of the late Pino Signoretto, whose work with Chihuly is represented at WMODA. She continues to make her mark in glass, working with Andrea Zilio to create the Funny Birds collection, an enchanting aviary to honor the exquisite beauty of birds. Her Secret Garden installation of 46 birds was a highlight of the 2025 Palm Beach Show.

Anna has also elevated her fabric installations into immersive three-dimensional aquatic experiences by creating velvet fish sculptures and suspending them in the air. Her first “fish out of water” made their appearance in the No More Room in the Lagoon exhibition for the Venice Biennale above Bevilacqua’s weaving mill on the Grand Canal in 2013. The following year, she created Nuoto D’Aria, literally “air swimming”, for Venice International Airport. Many of Anna’s ideas take shape from the sea, and the sinuous movements of fish, and she is now working on an installation of her Joyful Fish sculptures for the Splash exhibition at WMODA, which will accompany several of her large-scale aquatic wall paintings.

Anna’s luxurious velvet tapestries, with evocative titles such as Water Rainbow and Water of Dreams, shimmer and sparkle like glittering sunlight reflected on water. Shoals of fish from the Venetian lagoon feature in her Vortex paintings on display at WMODA. Anna has combined the Venetian tapestry and Murano glass traditions in these exquisitely hand-crafted designs using her distinctive painting techniques. The interplay of light on the silk velvet and murrine creates a magical, mesmerizing effect.

Anna’s works have been showcased in Venice, Paris, Milan, London, New York, and Singapore, and acquired by private collectors worldwide. Many WMODA visitors were enchanted by Anna’s smaller scale works from the My Diary series at the Fired Arts Fair in December and are looking forward to her return to the museum in February with more.

Read More…
Splash! Exhibition
Feb. 21 Splash! Exhibition Grand Opening

See Anna Paola Cibin’s Nuoto D’Aria being installed at Venice International Airport