ANTELOPE VALLEY COLLEGE : Visitors Get a Feel for Artworks

Visitors to the Antelope Valley College Art Gallery say you don’t just see the latest art exhibit, you experience it. And that’s exactly what Cynthia Minet, 29, had in mind when she created it.

Minet, who teaches art history, painting and drawing at the school, said she believes art should be a participatory experience. Combining sculpture and painting, she creates three-dimensional reliefs that invite the viewer to make aesthetic decisions by manipulating the works on display.

For example, one piece contains a working scaffold that allows viewers to adjust the height by pulling on cords. Another work has a trap door.

“If the viewer can manipulate aspects of the artwork, then they can really participate in the piece to a greater degree than just having to stand there,” Minet said.

Minet credits part of the evolution of her style to environment. She spent most of her childhood in Rome. It was there that she became enamored by art that spanned centuries and seemed to be everywhere.

Rome also was the home of Dmitri Hadzi, a family friend and an internationally renowned sculptor. “I remember going to see his studio when I was little, and he was in the midst of this huge plaster mold. It was enormous and he was standing up inside it. I thought that was the neatest thing,” Minet said.

While a student at a West Los Angeles high school, Minet met Susan Weinberg, a Santa Monica artist and teacher who helped nurture her budding talent in painting and drawing.

But it wasn’t until nearly a decade later, after she earned a master’s degree in fine art from San Francisco State University, that Minet merged sculpture with painting and drawing.

“Once I finished school, I began working out of a much smaller room. Out of necessity, my work became smaller,” she said.

Also, because storage was a problem, hanging the work on the wall provided an answer. “And since I respond better, three-dimensionally to things, I started building the pieces out from the wall,” she said.

Her work will be shown until Wednesday at the college during regular art gallery hours, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday.