Dr. Simmons earned a B.F.A. from Colorado State University in 1973, and an M.Ed. ’81 and Ed.D. ’88 from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where his doctoral thesis was on the history and philosophy of drawing instruction from ancient times to the present. While at Harvard, he also researched arts education at Project Zero (HPZ), under the direction of Dr. Howard Gardner. Since then, his research has focused on drawing and the development of imagination, as well as geometric reasoning, in collaboration with Dr. Ellen Winner (Boston College); plus drawing’s relationship to Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, in collaboration with Dr. Anne Fletcher (Southern Illinois University). 

As an artist, his work focuses on figure and portrait drawing, as well as landscape painting, primarily in watercolor.

His most recent book is The Value of Drawing Instruction in the Visual Arts and Across Curricula: Philosophical and Historical Arguments for Drawing in the Digital Age (Routledge, 2021). As opposed to the decline of drawing instruction in art and design schools, it makes the case for universal drawing instruction for learning at all levels: pre-K12 through pre-professional schools of art, architecture, and design. Previous books include: Drawing: The Creative Process, co-authored with Marc S. A. Winer (Simon and Schuster, 1976); The Arts PROPEL Visual Arts Handbook, co-edited with Ellen Winner (Harvard, 1973); and The Heart of Art Education: Holistic Approaches to Creativity, Integration, and Transformation, co-edited with Laurel Campbell (NAEA, 2012). In addition, he has published numerous articles on related subjects (see CV).

Seymour is married to Martine Simmons, with whom he has two children, Arielle (b.1986) and Jonah (b.1991), and a granddaughter, Talia (b.2024). Since 1983, Martine, Arielle, and Seymour have led drawing/painting workshops in France, including Normandy, Paris, and the Jura mountains near the French/Swiss border.