Things that go ‘round: A rhythmanalysis of the relationship
between a ceramics practice and domesticity using the form of the
vessel

Tait, AD

Abstract

Things that go ‘round: A rhythmanalysis of the relationship between a ceramics practice
and domesticity using the form of the vessel
This research starts from a hypothesis that a ceramics practice undertaken within the home
is interwoven with other, everyday domestic obligations. The practitioner must also function
as a person, this means some of their time must be allocated to domestic tasks such as
washing, cleaning, caring, eating etc. When a ceramics practice happens in the same space
as these demands, there is inevitably some overlap in the temporal experience of
undertaking tasks. Lefebvre’s concept of Rhythmanalysis provides a platform from which to
explore the rhythms of this experience.
The research is practice-based with an existing ceramics practice as the primary method.
The methodology of the research is autoethnographic, meaning the researcher is also the
subject. The ethnographic position is an increasingly significant culture of working from
home.
Alongside the ceramics practice is an experimental writing technique called the ‘Blovel’, a
portmanteau of blog and novel. The Blovel is a series of independent texts (or posts) that
function alternately as reflection, a diary, and data capture. Together the 67 posts also tell
the ‘story’ of the researcher’s experience of completing a practice-based PhD, albeit in a
fragmented manner. Additionally the Blovel writing is embedded within the thesis providing
a text with two distinct voices: the academic and the personal. This positions the Blovel
simultaneously as method and creative outcome, providing rich and thick descriptions
within the thesis.
Further outcomes from the research are a performance called Smalls that synthesises
practice-based and theoretic findings to consider the temporal (or rhythmic) relationship
between domestic tasks and ceramics production, and the Covid Clay Diary, a series of 90
ceramic vessels made, one per day, during 90 days of the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
Throughout the research the vessel takes centre stage, sometimes resembling a coffee cup
or other domestic ware, although often in a more abstract guise. The vessel is
8
conceptualised throughout as the universally understood object that bridges the
public/private divide. Imagine a coffee cup that is equally at home on the kitchen counter or
in the boardroom, or even on the train in between.
Ultimately the research comes together in a non-hierarchical cohesive whole. All outcomes
– The performance of Smalls, the Blovel, the thesis and the COVID Clay diary - contribute to
understanding and together draw on Lefebvre’s theory to form Rhythmanalyses of their
own and collectively.
There are several original contributions to knowledge:
• A body of ceramics practice that sits at the confluence of a novel combination of
theoretical and autobiographical understandings of the relationship between the
domestic and creative practice – via the idea of the vessel
• A new way of conducting and expressing a rhythmanalysis – via the ceramic outputs,
the alternative format of the thesis and the writing in the Blovel
• An exploration and proposal of the vessel as an object that spans the public/private
divide
• The Blovel, providing a new autoethnographic model that ties together method,
outcome, overall narrative of the process and contribution to the thesis in a manner
that wraps around the whole research process and permits the complexities of life to
be brought together as a whole
• An accessible model of practice that promotes holistic and egalitarian outcomes
• An original response to the COVID-19 Pandemic by way of an object-based diary

Citation

vessel. (Thesis). University of Sunderland

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 14, 2024