Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68FOCUS - JULY 2016 15 Asports injury changed the course of Jasmine Rutschmann’s life…. The local high school student ex- celled in athletics, playing soccer and basketball on rep teams. It was dur- ing a grade 10 rugby game that she suffered a broken collarbone. “Itwasadefiningmoment,”Jasmine commented. “I thought, ‘There has got to be a reason why this happened.’” Since she couldn’t participate in sports, she decided to try her hand at metal art. Using a plasma cutter in her Dad’s welding shop, she fash- ioned her first piece. “It was fun,” Jasmine said. “I wanted to do more. After the second piece, I was hooked. I had to lose one passion to find another.” Now a 19-year-old University student, Jasmine’s art career is blos- soming. In the past two and a half years she has participated in many shows, including the Sunderland Maple Syrup Festival, the Port Perry Fair, the Lumberjack competition in Beaverton and the Scugog Studio Tour. Sales have been “amazing,” Jasmine says. She had three weeks of commissioned work to do following the Scugog Studio Tour. People are enthralled with her creations. As well as wall décor and garden sculpture, Jasmine makes functional art pieces such as fireplace log holders and paint cans to hold lights to illuminate your patio or deck. Each piece is lovingly and carefully crafted with appealing designs depict- ing floral or nature/animal themes: Hummingbirds and butterflies and roses, as well as deer and bears. While some pieces take five to 10 hours to complete, she can put in up to 90 hours on larger works of art, such as her intricately designed, pretty pastel spray-painted, award -winning wheelbarrow. It won Best in Show for Juror’s Choice in the ju- ried Uxbridge art show. Jasmine has turned everything from an old metal patio table to a French horn into artis- tic conversation pieces. “People have been very gener- ous,” by giving Jasmine metal pieces to transform into works of art. She received a donation of 70 paint cans from Canadian Tire, plus old tanks from Value Propane, to name but a few. JASMINE RUTSCHMANN from Athlete to Artist! ...................... Please turn to page 16 PhotoS by MARyANN FLEMING