September 18, 2012 8.30 am This story is over 137 months old

Lincoln gallery gets Jaguar plane rubbings on display

Military art: A new art exhibition at the university’s gallery will feature a life-sized brass rubbing of a local RAF plane.

A life-sized brass rubbing of an aircraft in RAF Cranwell will go on display at the University of Lincoln’s Greestone Gallery on Lindum Hill this week.

The rubbing of a Jaguar is being created by Professor Ian Howard (pictured) alongside a number of his other works between September 20 and October 15.

He has made a number of works in collaboration with RAF Cranwell. Since 2009 one of the main focuses of his art is the relationship between civilian and military cultures.

International artist Professor Howard is the Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

He said: “I first undertook aircraft rubbings with the RAF in 1974 at Newton – an Avro Vulcan and Hawker Hunter, and at Henlow – a BAC Lightning.

“It was therefore fortuitous when Prof Norman Cherry, Pro Vice Chancellor and Head of College of Arts at the University of Lincoln, who knew about my art work, met with officers from RAF Cranwell in 2009 and suggested we might progress a ‘brass rubbing’ of a SEPECAT Jaguar.

“From an artist’s perspective, I believe it important that we acknowledge the role and significance of our military institutions and their ‘hardware’ and clearly the University of Lincoln recognises the value of local partnerships.”

On launch day, Howard will also give a talk regarding his work and the Jaguar rubbing at the Tithe Barn Lecture Theatre in Greestone Building between 11am and 1pm.

Paul Edwards, senior lecturer at the University of Lincoln’s School of Art and Design, said: “We are privileged to have the opportunity to show the work of Ian Howard at the Greestone Gallery.

“Ian has made work that explores the militarisation of our global society, often using a technique similar to brass rubbing.

“He has worked with Australian, British and American defence forces and has worked on the site of the Berlin wall and the Great Wall of China.

“In 1975 he made a life-sized impression of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.”