Nancy Kelly Allen weaves her Appalachian childhood experiences into the telling of this timeless tale. Hiram's Gift celebrates the joyful spirit of Christmas and is based on the tradition of Alice Lloyd College providing Christmas gifts for students in the area schools of eastern Kentucky. Deborah Bolton's artwork is influenced by her connection with nature. She enjoys painting with watercolors and does her illustrative work in watercolor pen and ink. She also paints with oils, water-mixable oils, encaustics, and it is not unusual for her to experiment with mixing media together in an effort to convey an ethereal or textural idea. Her work usually has a strong sense of color; she enjoys mixing her own pigments to get the exact colors to convey her ideas. Deborah is inspired by-and constantly studying-light and how it plays with color. She credits her early development as an artist to the intelligent and creative family members who nurtured her artistic expression. She was born in Erie, PA and was raised in Southern NJ. Family outings to the Philadelphia Museum of Art made a huge impact on her as a child by offering a front row seat to the Masters and to many styles of artwork. Not to mention, afternoon trips to her local library where she would get lost in wonderful illustrations from her favorite books from; Beatrix Potter, Walt Disney, Dr. Suess and Maurice Sendack (to name a few) while listening to classical music or Disney records It was at these times great sparks of imagination to fly about and give way to creative expression and the start of the artist. Deborah excelled in art during her early school years, and attended Moore College of Art as an Illustration major on scholarship. She put her dreams of becoming a children's book illustrator on hold to raise her family but continued to explore her art and do freelance jobs over the years. She later became certified and earned a degree in Computer Graphics, working as the Senior Graphic Artist at Gloucester County Times and South Jersey Newspapers for 13 years. During this period she had several illustrations published in various media. Deborah exhibits her work in galleries across the Philadelphia and tri state areas. After her children went to college she furthered her studies at Rutgers University with Professor Amdor, and was strongly influenced by Professor Bruce Garrity's Abstract painting style. Fascinated by the work being done in art therapy, she assisted Professor Ken Hoeing of Rutgers with an Art for Veterans course where she developed and ran a class titled Release through Color. Deborah received her B.A. in Fine Arts at Rutgers and won the William M. Hoffman Jr. Award for Excellence in Drawing & Painting. Through life experience Deborah believes that, As life has its ups and downs; as we make choices that we learn from; and when things happen beyond our control we must use what we learn to make us stronger so we may help others. Her art reflects her desire to help elevate the human spirit and give those in need encouragement and remind them that there is beauty that was created for us to rejoice in. Her aim is to improve our surroundings and everyday life by using imagination, color and portraying or alluding to nature's beauty. It is a fact that an atmosphere of positive images and colors will encourage healing and growth. Deborah is always learning from artists of the past and present.