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About AST
As a studio based organisation our main activity has been provision of affordable work space and support to artists. Since 1986 this process has assisted and encouraged fine artists to successfully maintain professional practice, quality of work and career development.

Matty Bevan Everything is One
graphite on paper 4x3 mtr
Photo Derek Henderson
‘Jesmond Dene runs for several miles along an artificial ravine, extending from Armstrong Bridge at the South and Dene Bridge at the North. In 1883 the Dene was given as a gift to Newcastle City by Sir William Armstrong for use as a public park. Included in Armstrong’s gift was the grand Banqueting Hall (listed Grade ll), commissioned from the celebrated architect John Dobson in 1860. The Banqueting Hall has been managed most recently as a ‘controlled ruin’. It is utilized and maintained by The Armstrong Studio Trust, who open the premises to artists seeking a place to produce. In this respect, the Banqueting Hall is a huge decaying machine for the production of art’.
School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. University of Newcastle upon Tyne