Jim Lyle, born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and raised in Brightwaters, New York, earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Arizona in 1967. He went on to earn a master of fine arts degree with a concentration in ceramics from Tulane University in 1969 and pursued additional study at Long Island University and Alfred University. He joined the faculty at Augusta College in 1971. 

His interests gradually turned to painting, and participation in a group show at the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art led him to pursue painting exclusively. He studied under Daniel Greene and Bernard Gerstner and then moved to Baltimore to study classical realism with Fritz Briggs at the Schuler School of Fine Arts. In the early 1990s, having mastered the techniques and formulas of the Old Masters, he resettled in Augusta, where he opened a studio. A Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest International Artist Fellowship enabled him to work for four months in Giverny, the French village made famous by Monet. The impact on his work was noteworthy. On his return, he combined the tenets of classical realism with the spontaneity of impressionism to produce a body of work that was uniquely his own. He was a valuable contributor to the vitality of Augusta’s visual arts community. 

His work was exhibited nationwide and is owned by more than 350 public, private, and corporate collections, including the Morris Museum’s. Tragically, his time here was cut short by cancer. When he died in March of 1995, he left behind a rich body of work and a legion of friends and admirers.