Joseph Cibula was born in 1946, in Meriden, Connecticut. As a small child, Joseph spent many hours at his parent's restaurant. One of his earliest memories from this time was that of a frequent customer who showed him how to draw. Joseph soon proved to have a natural gift for drawing and painting. These early encounters laid the foundation for a passionate love of art. In 1966, Joseph Cibula enrolled in the Paier College of Art in Hamden, Connecticut. Known for its highly skilled professors and trompe l' 'oeil, Joseph developed a lifelong admiration for the work of Andrew Wyeth. After finishing school, Joseph went to work in an advertising agency. He soon found the structure of corporate advertising unrewarding. In a life-changing moment, he left this job to paint. In 1984, a painting Joseph did of a duck decoy earned him the prestigious Massachusetts Duck Stamp Contest. Today, antique decoys, rendered in exquisite detail in oil and watercolor, remain a frequent subject. Throughout Joseph Cibula's career, his love of folk art, modern art and realism have led him to create a body of work that is stylistically superb and wholly unique. In addition to decoys, Joseph frequently uses antique toys, tropical fish and boats as his subjects.

Joseph Cibula was born in 1946 in Meriden, Connecticut. Cibula studied art at the Paier College of Art in Hamden, Connecticut, under a faculty known for their ability with trompe l'oeil painting. Cibola moved beyond a straightforward hyper realism to create his own enduring style. He is known for his works that reference the water - be it a decoy, a lure, a lightship or this toy sidewheeler. Cibola also studied with the esteemed painter, Kenneth Southworth Davies (1925-2017).