Local man says his past holds the key to his artistic talents

When Ronald Paul Seymour of Waverly, N.Y. closes his eyes, he says the little spots that sometimes float in the darkness become clear images — like frames from a motion picture film.

Seymour doesn’t share that detail with everyone in the fear that they might not believe him. But the product of his artwork and drawings holds the key to this "sixth sense" that Seymour claims to possess — a sense that will give him plenty to do in the time that he has left here on earth.

"When I was younger," he said, "I used to wish there was a doorway I could go through where time would stop so I could finish creating all these images that are in my mind. I have so many of them that I can’t get to them all in this lifetime," he added.

When studying the history of some of the great artists of the world, like Vincent van Gogh, who spiraled into a world of madness — there seems to be a story behind each one. Even Pablo Picasso was known as a "brilliant genious," whose work demonstrated an uncanny artistic talent — and who arguably became the best-known figure in twentieth century art.

So the confessions of the images that appear as motion picture frames in the mind of, and his claim of having a sixth sense, came as no surprise after Seymour revealed the bizarre accounts of his childhood, and how these events led him in to a world of isolation and withdrawal — combined with intellect and creativity.

Born in Syracuse, N.Y., Seymour moved to the Valley area 47 years ago. And although Seymour’s life today, he says, is peaceful, serene and filled with creativity — it wasn’t always that way.

Seymour was born with a severe developmental deformity. In his case he was born with half of his body resembling that of a baby, and the other half being the size of a toddler. Seymour could describe the deformity, but didn’t know too much more about it.

To correct this developmental deformity, the doctors injected some medication into his head, but the side effects caused hallucinations. Seymour recalled having the hallucinations right up and through the age of two; it was also at this time that he began drawing.

"I remembered the first time I ever saw a pen and paper," he said of his first experience with art at the age of two. "It was the best thing I ever saw in my life."

And although Seymour couldn’t connect the hallucinations with his ability to create art from such a young age, he did say his early childhood artistic talent was rare and unusual.

"I have sort of a sixth sense," he said. "When I close my eyes the spots become images."

The first image Seymour ever drew was a horse, and by the age of three he knew he was an artist.

But Seymour also says he had a very high level of intellect. At the age of three, he says he could read and knew his complete alphabet. Because of this, he added, his kindergarten teacher would utilize him as an assistant.

He attributed some of this to his late grandmother, Stella Mae Christfield of Barton, N.Y. According to Seymour, his grandmother taught him how to read the newspaper at a very early age.

"She would ask me what I read ... Then she would ask me what I didn’t read," he added. "I was already learning the abstract theory."

When he was in first grade, he requested an adult library pass, but because of his age they wouldn’t grant it. But Seymour’s mother, Ruby Seymour, requested him to be tested — and it was determined that he could read at a seventh grade level and the pass was granted.

And as he progressed in school, Seymour began to keep more to himself. Describing himself as very quiet, he said that he never talked to anyone, and that he always felt uncomfortable in class. "I felt like I was way ahead of any of the subjects that were being taught when I was in school," he said.

Upon his graduation from Waverly High School in 1972, Seymour was even voted as "Quietest in his Class." But he wasn’t too quiet to meet his then high school sweetheart, Mary (Mann) Seymour.

And although they were high school sweethearts, the two drifted apart — and then reunited in 1995 and went on to get married.

But his frustrations in school were what he called "maddening." Moving from school to school in the Valley area, it was hard for him to get adjusted each time he had to attend a new school.

He says his family moved 73 times during his childhood. And throughout the day at school, he waited anxiously until the end of the day when he could return home to work on his art. "I loved to go to my room and just lock my door — shut out the world," Seymour said.

He even recalled, on occasion, going home to an empty house — not realizing that the family had moved again. Seymour also said that he never made the connection until he was much older, that every time they moved was the same time the rent was due.

But moving back a bit to his high school days, he talked about taking as many art courses as possible, and how he achieved 99 percent every time. When asked why he didn’t receive 100 percent, Seymour explained that the teachers told him, "Nobody’s perfect."

He says he had such a craving for art. And because he had exhausted all the art courses he could possibly take while attending the Sayre High school, he transferred to Waverly and paid the cost himself to transfer out of the district.

And the end result, with all his artistic talent, was that Seymour received a scholarship in which he utilized to attend the Art Institute of Pittsburg. Living at the Duquesne University Towers on the 14th floor, he described the same isolated life in which he spent much of his time, alone in the library, studying Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo and Parinesi — "the Mad Etcher."

But the college education, for Seymour, was not enough to quench his creative thirst. He soon returned to Athens and eventually married his first wife.

It was during that time that Seymour began doing architectural rendering, and would soon work his way from $25 a piece to anywhere from $450 to $650 per piece.

But this wasn’t enough to earn a living, so Seymour obtained a bartending job at the Sons of Italy in Sayre to supplement his sparse income. It was at that place that he ran into a friend from IBM who made him an offer to create a painting for IBM that would be used for display at an air show in Paris.

He went to work and created an oil painting that portrayed six or eight attack helicopters over the ocean with a cityscape of Paris underneath. He even created an island in the ocean. This three-foot-by-three-foot oil painting earned Seymour $1,000. Following the air show, Joe Montana presented the painting to a three-star general who hung the painting proudly in his office at the Pentagon.

More work followed, and soon Seymour was creating drawings of jets departing from aircraft carriers. These drawings, he says, were utilized by the United States Navy.

Eventually he was able to land a steady job doing the work he loves when he accepted a position with FASCO Labeling as an artist designing logos. Working out of the Valley area, Seymour put his talents to work and created logos for Jordache, Sportswear of California, and even designed the change for a Faberge cologne line. According to Seymour, he changed their Brut cologne to a Joe Namath signature collection.

"I looked up Joe Namath’s signature and recreated it for the new line," said Seymour. He also redesigned the Colgate Toothpaste box in the 1980s. "I was working on some pretty big things," he added.

Outside of his regular job, he began doing illustrations for children’s books and Sci-Fi publications. Seymour even created the illustrations for the Budweiser Summer Sound Stage at Tags in Big Flats.

"I’m always drawing," he said, "and I can’t stop."

Standing near his latest piece, "Elephant Parade at Carnival Island," he explained its creation. The large poster-size pencil etching took him 180 hours to create, and was born from a vision he saw in his head. "It’s just one frame from a movie that I had in my head," he said.

In the etching, elephants are crossing across a bridge and into a plaza filled with fountains and gondolas. Seymour even put a carnival cruise ship in the fountain water. The majestic scene even has in it members from his own family on the lower right hand side, that are transposed into the crowd that has gathered in the plaza for carnival.

And although you can’t see the entire bridge where the elephants are descending from, Seymour said it is there. "You cant see it," said Seymour, "but I can."

In his studio are also pieces of artwork created of trains and bears. In the bear piece, 20 dancing bears are holding hands and square dancing in a circle. Seymour explained that he drew that piece because of its level of difficulty.

"My favorite things to draw and create are those that are the most difficult," said Seymour. "I wondered one day if I could draw 20 dancing bears," he added, "and there they are."

Right now Seymour is gathering his materials and preparing to display his work at Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts on State Street in Binghamton, N.Y. Beginning in April, Seymour will have an opportunity to display his artwork for one month. As to what he will display, Seymour is not sure yet and will be picking the best pictures out of his mind to portray for the month long display. "I have so many pictures in my mind," said Seymour. "But there is no way I can get them all out."

Seymour recently was accepted as well by Ray Taylor from the American Auction Network. or channel 185. Seymour talked of Taylor, and described him as one of the three biggest art dealers in the world. "He fashions himself after Ambrose Villard, the man who took care of Rembrandt and other great masters of the time," said Seymour.

Seymour’s artwork is also represented at the O’Shaughnessy Gallery in Watkins Glen, N.Y.

But outside of his artwork, Seymour spends time enjoying his home life where his wife Mary operates a residential home for adults. The Seymour’s are also animal lovers, and have four dogs several birds and a cat.

And Seymour’s talents continue. With a slew of guitars in his upstairs studio, Seymour shares a great love for creating music. Seymour has also done some creative woodworking, and has taught students in area schools to include a series of workshops he conducted at the Athens High School in 2008 under the "Neighbors Teaching Neighbors" program.

In his quiet time, outside of creating art, Seymour considers himself a student, or friend, of Albert Einstein. "While they were reading White Fang," said Seymour, "I was reading about what’s going to happen to the world." But in the meantime, Seymour is painting the world - one picture, or vision at a time.

Staff Photo/WENDY POST

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