Victory Park
1201 N. Pershing Ave.
Stockton, CA  95203
(209) 940-6300   
info@hagginmuseum.org

Running Basin by Steve Pereira, 1989, San Joaquin River.

This display of black & white and color photographs spans five decades, beginning with shots of life aboard a Scandinavian ship in 1963 and continuing into the new millennium with views of vessels calling at the Port of Stockton. Some images convey the stark reality of life on the sea and the bond between man and ship; others capture the abstract beauty that exists within the details and designs of marine architecture—what Pereira calls “…great sculptures on the sea.”

BACKGROUND
Pereira was born in Oakland but came to Stockton in 1952 at the age of twelve. He first attended Stockton College for two years and studied photography under Ed Schwinn. At San Francisco State University, he honed his photographic skills with Don Worth, Ansel Adam’s printer, and the school’s photographer, Joe Diaz. Pereira then headed to Europe in the early 1960s aboard the Finnish freighter M.S. Vaasa Leader. Operating from a studio he established in Helsingor, Denmark, he worked as a freelance marine photographer before returning first to the Bay Area and later resettling in Stockton. Here he married, raised a family and—after seven years of teaching high school history—once again set up his own photographic studio in the early 1970s.

By 1981, when he moved his studio to the Port of Stockton, he was well established as a freelance photographer. Assignments ran the gamut from aerial photography to portraits, medical operations to weddings, presidential inaugurations to baseball games—and he viewed each as an opportunity to learn more about his craft. He also began a long association with the Port of Stockton—recording the day to day life of this inland maritime hub. Pereira sees a wonderful continuity in this, for it was here that he was introduced to the Vaasa Leader and where his love affair with the mariner’s world began.

Pereira hopes his work helps to refocus attention on the sea and inspires the viewer to take a closer look at his or her world. Deepwater Steel has been previously displayed at the San Francisco National Maritime Museum in 2003-04 and at Freshwater Bay on the Isle of Wight in 2006-07.

MUSEUM INFORMATION
The Haggin Museum is located in Stockton's Victory Park, 1201 N. Pershing Ave., and is open Wednesday-Sunday, 1:30-5:00 p.m. and 1st & 3rd Thursdays, 1:30-9:00 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults 18 and up; $2.50 for youth ages 10-17, students with a valid I.D., and seniors 65 and over; and free for museum members and children under 10 accompanied by an adult. Free Admission Saturday will be held on March 1.

Free docent-led tours may be booked in advance by contacting Curator of Educator Lisa Cooperman at (209) 940-6332 or education@hagginmuseum.org. For disabled access, call ahead at (209) 940-6311 or 940-6317.