DIVE INTO THE UNDERWATER MUSEUM OF ART

New to the museum in 2022 was the sculpture "The Seed and the Sea" by Davide Galbiati, an artist living in France. It's a comment on the fragility of marine ecosystems and the need to cherish all life.

- SARAH MILLER

Planning a trip to the art museum usually doesn't require flippers and a wet suit. Yet the Underwater Museum of Art (UMA) in Florida has plunged into the art scene with an underwater sculpture exhibit. It's the first of its kind in the United States.

This unusual ocean exhibit is situated in the Florida Panhandle between Panama City and Destin on the Gulf of Mexico. It's about one mile (1.6 kilometers) offshore Grayton Beach State Park. Here, divers can swim 58 feet (18 meters) below the surface to view marine life interacting with sculptures. Over time, the works metamorphose into a living reef. This eco-tourist exhibit showcases artistic beauty. It also creates a safe haven for marine life and improves the overall health of the ecosystem.

Sculptures and Marine Life

The Underwater Museum of Art opened in 2018. Before that time, about 95 percent of this area was made up of barren sand flats. That's not exactly an ideal habitat for marine life. Today, thanks to the artificial reef made entirely of sculptures, the area is teeming with aquatic life. Tiny flashes of silver flicker as bait fish zip through the eyes of a pirate skull sculpture. One of the largest sculptures, this five-ton (4,536-kilogram) skull by artist Vince Tatum, is the exhibit centerpiece. UMA has a total of 41 sculptures, with more being added regularly.