Hat Makers of East End

Hat Makers of East End

Limited Edition Giclee Print By Jill Tattersall 8" x 12" 

Katherine Lettsome, a former head teacher, was a wonderful woman and a well-known hat maker at East End. I used to visit her in Long Look, and watched as she braided the fronds of the white Teyer palm, found on the North shore and neighboring islands, once these had been stripped, as the man is doing in my painting. There was a good demand for these hats which could be bought from the Home Industries building in the town square.

Farther down the road from Mrs Lettsome's house someone had planted bougainvillea in an old oil drum. The plant flourished and grew so large it eventually burst its boundaries. In my painting the nearest drum is already beginning to bulge.