CoolTan Arts is celebrating the spirit and inspiration of the recently departed David Morris – who died Sunday 18th April 2010.

We mourn the loss of David who walked and led the Largactyl Shuffle, campaigned across the disability spectrum and experienced his own mental distress.  Mental health stigma means that those who experience mental distress face greater barriers than people with other forms of disability.

David was a Senior Policy Advisor on Disability to the Mayor of London and had been working with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) as External Access and Inclusion Coordinator.

CoolTan models strut their stuff at London’s Alternative Fashion Week.

Alternative adj. relating to activities that depart from or challenge traditional norms

By Martin Walsh

Photograph © See Li Click here for more images

“Scottish weave like we’ve never seen it before”

CoolTan Arts graced the catwalk at the Alternative Fashion Show in Old Spitalfields Market on a promising and sun kissed afternoon, celebrating the alternative and debuting their latest collection, Twisted Tartan.

The Alternative Fashion Show exists for individuals, groups and charities who might usually fall by the wayside in the cut throat and competitive world of fashion.

Southwark-based arts mental health charity CoolTan Arts is presenting ‘Twisted Tartan’, a creative new collection  of 20 beautifully designed and hand-dyed dresses and scarves at the Alternative Fashion Week on 20^th April 2010.

After making a splash two years running at the Alternative Fashion Week, CoolTan Arts are back for the third time and bring their original hand made, dyed and printed creations to the catwalk once more.

Lydia Honeybone, CoolTan Arts’ batik tutor says about the collection: “This year we’re giving Vivienne Westwood a run for her money! With our ‘Twisted Tartan’ collection.

CoolTan Arts is creating and publishing a recipe book exploring the link between food and mood.  It will be published to coincide with World Mental Health Day in October this year.

Food has many associations for people, from family sharing to personal expression, from religious significance to the simple comfort it brings.  What’s more, Southwark – with its diverse ethnicity and cultural history – has a fantastic wealth of culinary traditions.  The CoolTan Arts cookbook will therefore celebrate the personal, cultural, creative, local, social and nostalgic qualities of food, cooking and eating – as well as including foods that are known to be good for physical and mental health.

Actually, the FOOD FOR MOOD project is not just for cooks: it’s a project about the way we cook, eat and shop for food.

Images from CoolTan’s latest exhibition.

Volunteer Michael Weekes-Quinn talks about how CoolTan Arts are already using social media to produce podcasts, edit videos and make films.

Michael from Cooltan Arts from bassac on Vimeo.

CoolTan Arts’ February Largactyl Shuffle explored Southwark’s connections with gay history and  mental health.

CoolTan Arts launched three new film projects at the British Film Institute on 8 February 2010.

Two of the films, ‘The Largactyl Shuffle,’ and ‘CoolTan Arts – who we are, what we do and how we do it,’ document CoolTan’s work. ‘In the studio with Maggi Hambling’ chronicles CoolTan’s patron.

Photography © Melanie Fordham

‘The Largactyl Shuffle’ follows the Largactyl Shuffle midnight walk – a nighttime guided cultural walk from Maudsley Hospital to Denmark Hill which took place in June 2009. Jon Pratty of Disability Arts Online described it as a ‘lively, insightful and informal documentary’.

The films will be shown nationally and internationally at film festivals and cinemas.

The side effects of antipsychotic drugs are well documented but did you know there are some which disproportionately affect women? And that these can include infertility, premature ageing and reduced libido?

Last week’s episode of All in the Mind on Radio 4 explored some of the more surprising side effects of antipsychotics.  The programme featured a candid interview with Sabita, a 57 year old woman who’d been taking antipsychotics since the early 1980s.  She’d suffered worryingly irregular periods, loss of libido and had recently developed osteoporosis.  Sabita felt let down by doctors who hadn’t warned her of any side effects other than weight gain.

CoolTan had a fantastic turnout for the opening of its ‘A Taste of CoolTan Arts’ exhibition at Lewisham Hospital on 24th September. The event was a great success and visitors included hospital patients as well as CoolTan Arts’ workshop participants and staff.

The exhibition was curated and set up by Jean Cozens – a CoolTan trustee. Many thanks to Barry Leaf at Lewisham Hospital for giving CoolTan the space to exhibit. Thanks also to Melanie Fordham who was CoolTan’s volunteer photographer for the evening. Artists include Sasha Dee, Simon Hayes, Emma Slater, Julie Hamilton, Sui Ngan and Liz Innes.

Click here for venue and contact details.

Art Exhibition at Ladywell Café

CoolTan Arts has a new art exhibition in the Ladywell Unit WRVS Cafe.

Venue: Lewisham Hospital, Lewisham High Street, SE13 6LH

If you require any further information, please contact Kathrin on 020 77012696 or email kathrin@cooltanarts.org.uk.

Walk participants photographed buildings designed by world famous architects and learnt about the relationship between local architecture and the history of mental health in Southwark.

CoolTan’s Largactyl Shuffle Summer Solstice Midnight walk was a a guided geo-physical walk through Southwark hearing the voices of history from the Madhouse to the Modern Psychiatric Hospital.

The Mad Hatter’s Teaparty was open to everyone and provided an opportunity to join CoolTan for fun, frolics, tea and cakes.

CoolTan Arts were proud to display their collection of customised, recycled clothing at this exciting event. All the clothing was designed and created by participants in CoolTan’s batik workshops.

Read more about Alternative Fashion Week in The Guardian

by Emma Johnston, volunteer at CoolTan Arts.

The news from a recent survey, published in the Guardian (Mind over matter – January 20^th 2009), that over half of UK employers would not employ someone with a known mental disorder, may come as no surprise to those involved in the sector.

The Mental Health Foundation states that one in four people will suffer from some form of diagnosable mental health problem within their lifetime. That’s one person not so far down your construction line, around your work station or across your boardroom.  So how do these conflicting statistics add up?

by Graham Peacock, volunteer at CoolTan Arts

The Largactyl Shuffle is a history walk taking place once a month, organised by Cooltan Arts. On the 11^th October 2008 a sponsored version of the walk took place to coincide with World Mental Health Day. I was one of the sponsored walkers. The route followed that day was the same as the history walks. It winds its way from the starting point at the Maudsley Hospital through a maze of backstreets and squares to the river by Southwark Cathedral and on, the short distance to the Tate Modern. A distance of about four miles.

by Peter Cox, CoolTan workshop participant

Five of us met outside the Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill from 12 noon. Ari, our guide for part of the walk, told us about the history behind the hospital which opened in 1923 and was founded by Henry Maudsley ( 1835-1918 ), a distinguished and wealthy psychiatrist. A nearby road, De Crespigny Park, is named after an 18^th century family home which was visited by Boswell, biographer of Dr. Johnson.

Ari told us of the origin of the word Camberwell- a place with a well for poor or broken people.