Barbara Hallman Kissinger has been freelancing as an author and artist since
1983. She has enjoyed a long career in the crafts and collectibles field. The
images found in her titles come from her own personal library of books,
postcards, and illustrations. In more than twenty years of collecting, Kissinger
has amassed over four hundred books, seven hundred postcards, and four hundred
illustrations from newspapers, books, and magazines. This artwork, from across
the United States and Europe, dates from the last half of the nineteenth century
to the middle of the twentieth century.
Kissinger has a particular interest in Christmas collectibles. She designed
and marketed her own line of wooden folk-art Santas that were sold in thirty
states. In addition to researching and collecting materials about the history of
Christmas, Kissinger, dressed as Mrs. Claus, has given holiday presentations to
schoolchildren.
Kissinger's second book, Christmas Merrymaking, was a finalist
for the 2008 PMA Benjamin Franklin Awards. Her other design projects include
embroidery patterns for VSM Sewing, Inc. and wooden craft items for Better
Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts. Kissinger and her work have also been
featured in Country Home, Country Living, and the Des Moines Register.
In addition to crafting wooden Santas, Kissinger is also a painter and
photographer. She is a charter member of the Art Guild of Burlington, Iowa, and
has exhibited her paintings in New York and throughout the Midwest.
A great-grandmother, Kissinger resides in Burlington, Iowa.
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