Each year, the History of Diving Museum collaborates with the Art Guild of the Purple Isles as well as students throughout the Florida Keys to create a unique art exhibit called Dive Into Art. A new theme is chosen each year, with 2026 honoring Stories from the Sea.
This special limited-time featured exhibit showcases creative works, including paintings, ceramic sculptures, paper mache, and poetry. Ten schools participated in the exhibit this year. Come see this incredible display, inspired by fantastic nautical tales from around the world. Each artist included a blurb with their piece to describe which literary or musical work inspired them. Many of these beautiful works will also be on sale, and available to purchase and take home with you!
The History of Diving Museum has also collaborated with the Florida Keys Council of the Arts, and through an Art Builds Community grant has been able to work with local high school students in the performing arts to participate in this year’s Dive Into Art. Students from Islamorada and Marathon created blackout poems – poems created by blacking out sections of words on a page – using the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. These poems were then used by local artist Adrienne Z to create songs with the students, which were then performed live in several venues across the Keys. When you visit the Dive Into Art: Stories from the Sea exhibit, you can see these poems on display, and listen to the musical performances that were inspired by then.
We hope you can see Dive Into Art: Stories from the Sea, while it is on display in the Museum from January 21 to April 15 this year!