About me

The path to my current commitment in photography has been long and circuitous, but my passion for photography has been unwavering. Inspired at an early age by my father’s lush Kodachrome images from travels throughout the world, I began my own journey as an amateur photographer in my teens. I eventually turned my other passion, chemistry, into a career at the Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City, Missouri, and retired as a Principal Chemist in 2016. I'm now reconnecting with photography in order to document the people and places that have influenced my life and that continue to resonate with my own sense of self.

I often seek subjects in my work that convey a sense of quiet, solitude and order. I attempt in each image to express the dichotomy between the preciousness of living things and the inevitability of passing. These notions remain largely suppressed in our consciousness – to reflect on mortality is to cast a glimpse at our own impermanence, of the unalterable link between life and transience, and that one cannot exist without the other.

Exhibitions:

Sep 2019, “Current Works”, Group Exhibit, Kansas City Artists Coalition, Kansas City, MO.
Apr 2019, “4Square”, Group Exhibit, KCSCP Union Hill Gallery, Kansas City, MO.
Mar 2019, “Urban and Wild”, Group Exhibit, KCSCP Union Hill Gallery, Kansas City, MO,
Dec 2018, “The Life We Live”, Group Exhibit, KCSCP Union Hill Gallery, Kansas City, MO.
Jul-Aug 2018 “Verglas”, Solo Exhibit, Trap Gallery, Kansas City, MO.
Oct-Nov 2017, "Current Works" Group Exhibit, Kansas City Artists Coalition, Kansas City, MO.
Sep-Oct 2017, "Being There", Two-Person Exhibit, Ward & Ward Fine Art Framing and Gallery, Kansas City, MO.
Aug-Sep 1017 "Finding Peace, Finding Center", Group Exhibit, Leedy-Voulkos Gallery, Kansas City, MO.
April-June 2017, "Sense of Place" Group Exhibit, Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art, St. Joseph, MO.
June 2017 "4Square" Group Exhibit, 2016 Main Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Nov-Dec 2016, "Current Works" Group Exhibit, Haw Contemporary Gallery, Kansas City, MO.
Aug 2016, "4Square" Group Exhibit, David Morris Gallery, Kansas City, MO.

Other:

Jan 2020, “Location/Dislocation”, Visual Presentation with newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Diasole Scholar’s Center, Kansas City, MO.
Oct 2019, KCSCP Member Portfolio Walk, Kansas City Artists Coalition, Kansas City, MO.
Oct 2018, KCSCP Member Portfolio Walk, El Torreon Event Space, Kansas City, MO.
May 2017, Photography Portfolio Walk, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO.

Organizations:

Kansas City Society for Contemporary Photography, Secretary
American Society of Media Photography
Kansas City Artists Coalition

Education:

Photography Certificate Program, Kansas City Art Institute, Completed 2017.
B.S., Chemistry, University of Central Missouri, 1976.

Contact:

jonstot74@gmail.com