A 10-foot-tall stainless steel saguaro cactus, born in 蜜柚直播, went to its forever home this summer at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.
The sculpture is one of 10 works created by artists across the country that were installed in June at the Underwater Museum of Art, in a 1-acre patch of seabed off Grayton Beach State Park in South Walton, Florida.
The curated pieces joined seven sculptures, including one shaped like a pineapple and another like a human skull, already serving as a marine habitat for the local ocean life nearly 60 feet below the surface.
The museum is free but requires that visitors have the proper diving equipment, certifications and can arrange for transportation to the sculpture site, nearly a mile off the coast.
蜜柚直播 artist Ghazal Ghazi, co-creator of the saguaro sculpture, thought the idea of an underwater museum sounded surreal when she responded to the museum鈥檚 call to artists, and was subsequently chosen to participate earlier this year.
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鈥淚t seemed very beautiful, very magical,鈥 said Ghazi, who moved to 蜜柚直播 from the Midwest in 2008 to attend the University of 蜜柚直播.
Ghazi tapped fellow 蜜柚直播 artists Bill Baron and Michael Ramirez to work with her on the project.
The group explored several designs, but the iconic saguaro 鈥渞eally stood out to us,鈥 Ghazi said.
鈥淪ea life will be growing on these sculptures,鈥 Ghazi said. 鈥淲e thought about how saguaros are so vital to maintaining and promoting life in the desert. The sculpture would be accomplishing the same role underwater.鈥
The colossal cactus was constructed in a workshop near downtown 蜜柚直播 and took nearly a month to finish. It weighed close to 300 pounds upon completion.
From there, it was shipped to Florida via flatbed truck, where it was fixed onto a concrete pad, meant to prevent it from sinking into the sand, and to ensure proper balance on the seafloor, according to Jennifer Steele, executive director of the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County.
The museum, a collaboration between the arts alliance and the South Walton Artificial Reef Association, opened in June of 2018 and bills itself as the nation鈥檚 first underwater art museum.
That same year, Time magazine included it in its annual list of the world鈥檚 greatest places. The list highlighted 100 global destinations based on several factors, including originality, innovation, influence and sustainability.
The sculptures, now officially part of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection鈥檚 artificial reef project and the arts alliance鈥檚 Art in Public Spaces program, will remain there indefinitely, even as more sculptures are added, Steele said.
Steele added that they hope to install about 50 sculptures total before the allotted space reaches capacity.
The museum launched in an area of Florida already known for its tourism. Walton County, Florida, receives more than 4 million visitors to its white sand beaches annually. Some of those visitors in the last year have made time to see the sculptures.
鈥淭he destination is becoming increasingly popular with divers as they learn about the site,鈥 Steele said. 鈥淎s a result, more dive resources are becoming available due to the demand.鈥
Ghazi, who attended the saguaro sculpture鈥檚 deployment, saw the whole experience as a 鈥渦nique opportunity.鈥
鈥淚t is wonderful to be able to create, and, at the same time, make something that will help marine life,鈥 she said.
Ghazi鈥檚 artist colleague Bill Baron said it is a weird feeling making a piece of public art for an exhibition that he will probably never see himself, but there are advantages to its location.
鈥淚t is cool because it will be untampered with,鈥 Baron said. 鈥淚t is like a weird little sunken treasure.鈥
