For Immediate Release
10/25/2016

L.H. Horton Jr. Gallery Presents:
On Reading in the San Joaquin
Nov. 10 - Dec. 9
A Photographic Survey of Libraries & Literacy Efforts in Stockton & San Joaquin County
Photographs by Robert Dawson, Curated by Ellen Manchester


Stockton Adult School ESL Students

(Stockton, CA) Delta College's Center for the Arts L.H. Horton Jr. Gallery presents: On Reading in the San Joaquin, A Photographic Survey of Libraries and Literacy Efforts in Stockton and San Joaquin County, November 10 – December 9, 2016. 

An Artist Talk will be held at Delta College West Forum lecture hall from 12:30 - 1:30p.m., with a Gallery Tour to follow with photographer Robert Dawson and Curator Ellen Manchester. The opening reception is planned for Thursday, October 10 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.  With Our Words youth poets will perform spoken word during the reception. Admission to the Artist Talk and Gallery exhibition is FREE and open to the public.

Photographer Robert Dawson and photography curator Ellen Manchester have spent the last two years documenting the culture of public libraries and literacy efforts in the city of Stockton and the surrounding communities of San Joaquin County. This exhibition is the first in a series of public programs and publications that seek to provide a realistic context for the challenges facing these communities and to celebrate and honor the efforts of the many individuals and organizations that have dedicated their work to increasing literacy, promoting civic engagement and advocating for programs that broaden the social, cultural, economic and educational well-being of the region.

Dawson states, “I spent the last eighteen years photographing the role of public libraries in communities throughout the United States (published as The Public Library: A Photographic Essay, Princeton Architectural Press, 2014). Libraries and literacy help level access to information and provide opportunity and hope. They are a shared commons of our ambitions, our dreams, our memories, our culture and ourselves. Public libraries and universal literacy are part of that public good. They are our collective intelligence battling the enclosure and commercialization of knowledge and information. They are our debt to past generations and our link to the future. This project has been an opportunity to focus, in depth and in detail, on the role of libraries and literacy efforts in one community.”

“Our heartfelt thanks to the organizations, schools, colleges, businesses and community activists who opened their doors for us to photograph their programs and their efforts to increase literacy and educational opportunities for everyone in San Joaquin County. Thank you to San Joaquin Delta College and the LH Horton Jr Gallery for presenting this exhibition, and to Bill Maxwell of the Bank of Stockton Archives for sharing the bank’s extraordinary historical collection of photographs and memorabilia with us. We are especially grateful to Dr. Mas’ood Cajee and the board of the Library and Literacy Foundation for San Joaquin County for their support and endorsement of the project, and to Suzy Daveluy and the staff, volunteers, tutors and friends of the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library for their enthusiastic and generous partnership at every stop along our journey throughout this inspiring community. Thank you!”

This project was made possible by a grant from the Creative Work Fund of the Haas Foundation and a Guggenheim Fellowship awarded to Dawson in 2014. Additional support was provided by The Library and Literacy Foundation for San Joaquin County in partnership with the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library.

For more information:
Robert Dawson Photography
www.robertdawson.com

The Library and Literacy Foundation for
San Joaquin County – https://llfsjc.org

Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library
http://www.ssjcpl.org