Simonds, like most, began to work with clay in the fourth grade. At New Lincoln School in New York City, he was inspired to take his love for modeling out of art class and a life long ambition. "My brother and I were adept at making portraits in clay." This pastime was supported by his parents through high school and he majored in art at the University of California at Berkeley and going on to Rutgers University. Eventually he became a college art teacher in New Jersey where he noticed the deterioration of brick in some of the cities older buildings in the 1971. Immediately, he began to experiment with clay and sand to get a look of Native American or African dwellings made from the earth. He attached these little models to the dilapidated buildings and occasionally captured his art in self produced movies.

Simonds’ work caught on and soon he was creating little dwellings for various galleries and art collections. He considers himself a poor draftsman, and will only draw when he has an idea he cannot begin right away. There are three types of architectural types: circular, spiral, and line. All three are described in his 1975 book Three Peoples. The works are complete with miniature tools, ladders, and other neat little details. The work is generally inside, mostly because it is unfired clay, and any water could cause it to disincarnate. The work, however, does not have to last forever, in his opinion. Time will change the work and those changes are a pert of the works history, and that is important. People live and build shelter. People die and the shelter disincarnates: both come from and reenter the Earth. This is the way of the art of Simonds as well. He lives and makes the art. He will die and the art will cease: both will be reclaimed by the Earth. Charles Simonds lives and works in New York until being absorbed back into the Earth.