By DeAnn Rossetti

Tall and blonde, Jasmine Zimmerman could be slight, brown-haired Jade Keen’s mother.

Jasmine is 24, and her sister Jade is 7. They’re artists working at developing careers — and. their art is being displayed publicly.

Jasmine, who has a different father than Jade, is finishing her bachelor of fine arts degree in ceramic sculpture at the University of Washington.

Jade, who lives with her mother on Mercer Island, is painting vibrant abstract landscapes on canvas and creating perfume in her spare time. She sells the perfume for 25 cents a squirt on the sidewalk in front of her house, like a lemonade stand.

Jade also paints birdhouses. She started that when she was invited to a bird-themed birthday party several months ago. While there, she painted party-favor birdhouses.That got her started on creating “one-of-a-kind” birdhouses that she sells for $30 each. Jade’s paintings go for $50 each,. She’s sold two to her neighbor.

Jade’s latest painting, which used five layers of paint, will be enlarged and put around the perimeter of the Island Market Square building project this summer along with the artwork of 19 of her classmates. She won the opportunity to have her painting displayed through an art contest sponsored by SECO Development.

Jasmine also started producing art when she was young. Jasmine and her mother, Tammy Keen, painted together then. But Jasmine discovered at Bellevue Community College that using clay to make three dimensional objects was her calling

Though she was going to go into international business and foreign languages, Jasmine took a beginning ceramics class and became hooked on clay as an artistic material.

“The process of throwing clay on a pottery wheel is meditative,” she said “I like how clay responds to touch. It’s so intimate, you literally have your hands all over it.”

Jasmine’s pottery has been in three group shows with other students. She also was chosen, with 24 other student artists, to create public art along University Way, commonly called the “Ave.” Stores along that road sponsored individual students for $350 each.

Students were required to submit a portfolio of their work to get into the public art class, noted Jasmine’s ceramics professor, Jamie Walker, of the university’s School of Art. Their final project for the class was to create these pieces of art that will hang on light poles in front of businesses on the Avenue for 30 years.

Jasmine’s piece is a translucent sculpture with a steel inner frame covered by layers of fiberglass and resin. It was installed in front of Don Kennedy Real Estate, which has been in business for 62 years in the same space.

“I think it’s outstanding because it was done in good taste, and it makes the U-District more prominent,” said Kennedy, 85. “I’m going to live 30 more years to make damn sure they don’t take it down!”

Jasmine’s pieces are thrown and carved porcelain that have a wonderful play of organic form,” said Walker. “They’re abstract and hint of plants, flowers and leaves.”

Jasmine will work as a teaching assistant with Walker and other ceramic art professors this summer, teaching beginning pottery.

While she does that, Jade, who has a rare birth defect called proximal focal femoral deficiency, according to her mother, will continue with her art. She had two hip surgeries last year, her mother said. One of Jade’s femur bones in her leg is shorter than the other, and her leg bones are smaller than they should be.

Jade and Jasmine inspire each other in their artistic endeavors, enough so that Jade has decided she will be a full-time painter when she grows up. Jasmine said her sister’s optimism and determination not to let her physical limitations limit her art are what inspire her.

“Art is the greatest pastime we’ve shared together,” said Jasmine. “Jade doesn’t let anything hold her back from her artistic potential. She keeps me young and keeps me thinking creatively.”