UMA Celebrates Third Art Deployment

Walton County, Fla.– Feb. 3, 2021. – The Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County (CAA), South Walton Artificial Reef Association (SWARA) and Visit South Walton celebrated the successful deployment of eight new sculptures in the Underwater Museum of Art (UMA). 

The new installation is the third UMA sculpture deployment and includes the following sculptures:

• Bee Grayt by Katie Witherspoon (Santa Rosa Beach, FL)
• Building Blocks by Zachary Long (Oklahoma City, OK)
• Dawn Dancers by Shohini Ghosh (Highlands Ranch, CO)
• Eco-Bug by Priscila D’Brito (Boca Raton, FL)
• From The Depths by Kirk Seese (Lutherville, MD)
• Hope by Jonathan Burger (New Bern, NC)
• Three Wishes by Marisol Rendón and Ingram Ober (San Diego, CA)
• El Plastico by George Sabra (Richmond, TX)

With support from the Alys Foundation, Visit South Walton, Visit Florida and the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs today’s installation will bring the total number of underwater works of art up to 25. The nation’s first permanent underwater museum of art is located in about 57 feet underwater and the coordinates for the center sculpture (SWARA Skull) are Latitude N30 18 45.262 Longitude W086 09 33.722.

In addition to providing a site for SCUBA diving that will be unique to the world, the sculptures are designed and selected with their suitability as marine habitat in mind, so even in the absence of SCUBA divers, the Underwater Museum of Art is certain to have many visitors, including schools of bait fish, grouper, sea turtles and dolphins!

For photos of Wednesday’s launch: https://platform.crowdriff.com/m/s-8jNMaDrNIsW-mSk5 

For photos and videos of previous launches and current underwater art pieces: https://platform.crowdriff.com/m/s-WATS6_NTV3YonsmP 

For artist info and a full description of each sculpture, visit: https://umafl.org/artists-revealed-for-third-uma-installation/ 

Artist renderings can be viewed and downloaded here: https://platform.crowdriff.com/m/s-s8cJN2eB56HEszha 

For more information on the Underwater Museum of Art and sponsorship opportunities, visit: https://www.culturalartsalliance.com/local-arts/underwater-museum-of-art

Media may use the following contacts for interviews and further information:

Jennifer Steele, Executive Director of the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County:
Office: (850) 622-5970
Mobile phone: (850) 319-9743
Email: Jennifer@culturalartsalliance.com

Andy McAlexander, SWARA founder:
Mobile phone: (850) 259-8283

David Demarest, Director of Marketing and Communications at Visit South Walton
(850) 520-3001