UMA Underwater Museum of Art
South Walton – Florida – USA
photo by Katie Witherspoon
Installation of “La Graine et la Mer” in the Gulf of Mexico at the Underwater Museum of Art in Florida.
Allison Haley Wickey Founder of the Florida Underwater Museum, welcomes the sculpture La Graine et la Mer II by Davide Galbiati which will be immersed in June in the Underwater Museum of Art.
UMA is the first permanent underwater sculpture garden in the United States Located in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Walton County, Florida. The museum is 58 feet deep and 0.93 miles from the shore of Grayton Beach State Park.
Each year, a selection of sculptural works, drawn from artists around the world, is installed in the underwater garden.
The sculptures quickly attract a wide variety of marine life and, over time, metamorphose into a living reef.
This ecotourism attraction not only attracts art lovers and divers from all over the country and the world, but provides a vital habitat for local marine life and fisheries, as well as marine scientists, wildlife management professionals, ecologists and students with the opportunity to study marine life and measure the impact of artificial reef systems on the Gulf’s ecosystem.