Ted Lyman

Work: "First Surface"
When: 7 pm Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Where: HCC Ybor Room:

Ted Lyman began making films in the early Seventies when he was inspired by the work of the American Avant-Garde. Through his ensuing career he has maintained a belief in the power if the extraordinary syntax of the moving image exposed and explored by that movement.

The overall strategy of his filmmaking is to use that syntax in ways that are legible and illuminating to the general viewer. "Skycap" (1972), "Alleydog" (1974), "Scotland with No Clothes" (1977), "Mansacts" (1980), "Fla.Me", (1982), "Testament of the Rabbit" (1989), "First Surface" (1996), and "Flat Earth" (work in progress) are among his productions.

While each of these works is different in content and appearance, they all are founded on a sense of place, interaction with nature, and a commitment to expression by visual, non-narrative, means.

Lyman's films have been shown in national and international venues, have won several best of festival awards, and have been broadcast by PBS and the Learning Channel. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Program, and from the Vermont and Ohio Councils on the Arts as well as production funding from the Independent Television Service.

Lyman lives in Northern New England with his wife, Virginia Clarke, a veterinarian and activist, and enjoys visits from his grown children, Andrew and Lindsay. He is chair of the Art Department at the University of Vermont where he also teaches media theory and production.