Hatton created The Leopard and the Fox in fulfillment of her MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where she spent her sabbatical leave from her duties at CSU during the 1944-45 academic year. The Michigan school was founded in 1932 and first offered the MFA degree in 1942; Hatton is among the earliest artists to have earned the terminal degree. Hatton’s graphic interpretation of Aesop’s fable, The Leopard and the Fox, was included in her MFA thesis, “Design and the Graphic Arts,” and brings to bear the artist’s skills as a printmaker, typographer, and bookmaker.