Jeff Meyers Talks the Art of Ice Carving

Jeff Meyers made his first ice carving in 2002. He was a senior in high school who had just picked up a job hauling material for established northeast Ohio ice carver Aaron Costic at Elegant Ice Creations in Broadview Heights. 

“It sounded better than cutting lawns,” Meyers jokes.

He was working alone while Costic was away carving at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games when he first decided to slice into the ice himself. Meyers’ formal carving training began upon Costic’s return, and he’s been honing his craft ever since. 

“I’m fortunate enough that I get to create things and be part of people’s special events,” he says. “I’m forever in their pictures and their memories of their wedding, their bar mitzvahs, their baby showers. I get to be that little special part of that.”

In 2024, Meyers purchased Elegant Ice Creations from his mentor. Today, Meyers and his team continue to craft breathtaking and fleeting works of art, whether for entertaining a crowd at a festival, competition or special event. We talked with Meyers about his most memorable sculpture, the temporary nature of ice and carving in front of crowds.

Do you enjoy carving in front of a crowd?
I do. And you know, my biggest thing is the kids … they’re amazed by it. They love to get sprayed by the snow. If I don’t have a big crowd, sometimes I’ll take the scrap pieces and I’ll engrave their name in a chunk of ice, and they look at it like it’s the most amazing thing in the world. But it took me seconds to do. Sometimes at the end of the event, you’ll look at the parking lot, and you’ll see a bunch of chunks of ice where the parents didn’t let the kids take it in the car.

What’s the most memorable or unusual sculpture you’ve ever created?
I’d say the most memorable in my head would be Fairbanks, Alaska, has the World Ice Art Championships. I was on a four-man team … and we did this carving called Underwater Safari. We get 10 blocks that are about the size of a smart car … At the end, we took first place. But an hour and a half before the competition ended, we went to lunch and came back, and one of our fins to the lionfish fell off. And what took a day and a half to create had to be made in an hour and a half.

Does knowing a sculpture is temporary change the way you view your work?
Most definitely … At the end of the day, you can’t be too attached. Because you know it’s temporary, and you have to look at it as: Every time you carve it, you’re going to carve it better. It’s going to melt away. … that’s how you keep improving yourself as an artist. 

For more information, visit elegantice.com.

For more Ohio travel inspiration, sign up for our Ohio Magazine newsletters.

Ohio Magazine is available in a beautifully designed print issue that is published 7 times a year, along with Spring-Summer and Fall-Winter editions of LongWeekends magazine. Subscribe to Ohio Magazine and stay connected to beauty, adventure and fun across our state.