Food & Culture
MARTINE SIMMONS Biography
Born in France, Martine SImmons moved to the United State in her mid-twenties. She spent her youth in Clermont-Ferrand, home of the Michelin family who, among other endeavors, published the GREEN TOURIST GUIDES. Be it an omen or not, she loves traveling, and sharing her love of her homeland.
It is with Seymour, however, that she grew to love Paris, and it is with Martine that Seymour discovered the Eastern part of France, the «Franche Comté», in particular the French Jura, bordering Swizerland, which was her father’s birthplace.
Married in 1976, Seymour & Martine enjoyed gathering old friends and new, all fond of the arts and cultural diversity. In the early 1980s, while Martine was teaching at the French Library in Boston and Seymour at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education (where they met), they starting thinking about taking groups of artists and francophiles to France. The Painting in France Workshop came to life and has thrived ever since, adding Photography, taught by Terry Roueche, to the curriculum in 2010.
Martine earned a bachelor’s degree in French and Education at the University of Massachusetts, and taught French at the high school and college level in New England and South Carolina. Currently she teaches privately in her home. Her dream is to restore the family chalet in the Jura and open an arts center there, welcoming creative people in writing, music, visual arts…
In the meantime, Seymour and Martine continue to bring groups to Paris, to the Château Rouge in Normandy, and to the Jura’s picturesque landscapes.
Maritne’s culinary talents add immeasurably to the delights of Painting & Photography in France! Here she demonstrates fondue, one of the Jura’s gustatory specialties:
