Dive in!
Take an imaginative trip under the sea to visit the kelp forest and wonderful creatures who call it home. A Forest Under the Sea is a new kinetic sculpture created by artist Christopher Lutter-Gardella from upcycled and found materials.
Magic under the sea!
Experience California’s kelp forest through imaginative and creative play. Spin with a school of sardines. Help a dolphin and her baby swim in the currents. Play on the sea floor with otters, urchins, and starfish while the sun shimmers through the leaves and jellies bob overhead.
FREE WITH KIDSPACE ADMISSION
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Undersea spin
Imagine you’re twirling through the kelp forest with all your friends.
Upcycled art
The kelp and sea creatures in A Forest Under the Sea are made of recycled plastic, metal, and wood.
Unique habitat
California’s kelp forests are home to dozens of mammals, fish, and birds.
About the kelp forest
The kelp forest is a unique underwater ecosystem, found in cold coastal waters, all along the coast of California and beyond. The forest provides food and shelter for a wide array of species, from mammals like sea otters and whales to swimmers like sharks or garibaldi, our state fish. The rocky forest floor is home to purple urchins, sea stars, abalone, and crabs.
Giant kelp, Macrocystis Pyrifera, can reach up to 175 feet tall and grow up to two feet per day. Kelp is not a plant at all, it is the largest form of algae on Earth. Look carefully and you can see the gas-filled bladders that keep it upright in the strong Pacific currents. It grows among rocks on the sea floor, often in dense colonies that form kelp forests.
These forests play a crucial role in coastal health, supporting biodiversity and offering resources to numerous species.
How you can help
Kelp forests all over the world are at risk from pollution from land, especially near coastal urban areas like Los Angeles. As the ocean warms, the kelp forests are shrinking, and waste from our cities, including plastics and chemicals that flow into the ocean, harm animals and kelp.
The good news is that we can all contribute to the sustainability of the kelp forest and other ocean habitats. Here are some ways you can help:
- Reduce your use of plastic. This exhibit almost entirely out of waste plastic. By avoiding, recycling, or reusing plastics, we can all help protect the ocean and all our underwater friends.
- Be careful with runoff. Never dump household chemicals on streets or into storm drains and be sure your car does not leak oil or coolant.
- Support or volunteer with conservation groups working to protect, restore the kelp forest and threatened species, like the southern sea otter.
The Bay Foundation, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium are working to study and restore kelp forest habitats in California and to reduce waste plastic pollution in California’s coastal waters.
About the artist
Interdisciplinary artist Christopher Lutter-Gardella creates interactive, upcycled public art installations that invite communities to play and contemplate the beauty and mystery of the natural world. Chris delights in infusing his work with movement and animated life, encouraging audiences to physically engage. His art often explores the properties of light, its translucence, refractions and reflections. He works primarily in recycled materials, exploring the unique potential of the endless and diverse stream of waste products that humans produce. Chris is in continuous awe of the universe and is a bona fide worshipper of Nature.
Big Animal Productions Artistic Team
Tara Fahey
Emily Hasty
Munir Khar
Nat Kim
Allison Osberg
Kris Touey
Becky Wygonik
Big Animal Productions Fabrication Team
Mark Scamp
Ben Seibert
Karl Stoerzinger
Paul Tinetti
Sculptor and Installer
Jimmy Stewart