By Whitney Hale

The next Little/Gaines Artist Series presentation will explore how much life imitates art. "The Daily Routine: Theme and Variations," featuring the work of Little/Gaines artist Kit Donohue, a musician and UK graduate student, and her collaborator, dancer and UK alumna Kasey Shackelford, will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, at the Niles Gallery, located in University of Kentucky's Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library and Learning Center. This event is free and open to the public.

As part of the Little/Gaines Artists Series, Kentucky artists team up with one or two collaborators in visual, literary, musical or dramatic arts to stage unique exhibitions. "The Daily Routine" will feature a musical composition by Kit Donohue accompanied by dance choreography created by Kasey Shackelford.

In recent years, the genre of "found art" has grown in popularity. Whether it is in the field of visual art, music, poetry or dance, "found art" draws upon the artistic elements that can be found in the course of our everyday lives. The inspiration for the project, "The Daily Routine," flowed out of the “found art” movement and the Oscar Wilde quote, "life imitates art far more than art imitates life."

"The Daily Routine" began with a series of journals completed by students on UK’s campus. As part of the project, students were asked to record the artistic elements they found in their daily routine. From this project, the artists hoped to explore the circular relationship between life and art, and to provide a new perspective for examining the daily routine. The resulting journals served as the source material for the musical composition and choreography to be presented at the Little/Gaines Artist program.

The musical composition featured in "The Daily Routine" consists of the theme, daily routine, and five variations. Each variation is based on a specific journal entry on colors, sounds, textures, interactions with others, and scenes of chaos and peace.  

Kit Donohue is a graduate student in the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce. As an undergraduate, she studied mathematics and international studies, and she completed a minor in piano performance at UK. When she is not in school, Donohue enjoys composing music, cooking and coaching speech team.

Kelsey Shackelford completed her bachelor’s degree in arts administration and a minor in dance at UK in 2011. For the past five years, she has been a member the UK Dance Ensemble. Shackelford hopes to pursue a career in arts administration that will allow her to continue to exercise her passion for dance.

The Little/Gaines Artist Series is presented by the Little Fine Arts Library and the Gaines Center for the Humanities. All Little/Gaines Artist Series programs take place on Tuesdays in the Niles Gallery of the Little Fine Arts Library. Each program lasts approximately an hour and a half and includes a reception.

For more information on the Little/Gaines Artist Series or on Kit Donohue and Kasey Shackelford's presentation, contact Gail Kennedy, UK arts and outreach librarian, at (859) 257-4631, or Lisa Broome, associate director of the Gaines Center, at (859) 257-1537, or visit the series on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LittleGainesArtistSeries.