Jay and his wife Carol co-own the IceWorks and have worked together to create beautiful ice sculptures for the past 18 years. Jay was born in Texas, grew up in Dallas and went to the University of Texas where he was a member of the Longhorn Band. He studied music and his hope was to someday conduct an orchestra. On a trip to France though, he realized a shift in his aspirations and left school to
become a chef. He worked his way through several kitchens and was the Executive Chef in a four-star hotel in Washington, D.C. when he was only 22 years old. Ice Sculpture is a culinary art and as he worked as a chef, Jay began to teach himself to carve ice...starting with only a tree limb saw and an ice chipper. By the time he was 26, he was a chef at a huge casino hotel in Atlantic City with incredible responsibilities and a kitchen staff of over 500. Although he worked over 80 hours a week, he stayed even longer to carve ice for the various parties. Jay's never had an art class or sculpting class in his life, but quickly became a self-taught master ice carver and won several gold medals for his ice sculptures...ultimately winning fourth place in the International Ice Sculpting Competition in Asahikawa, Japan. While Jay was dreaming of working his way up to being a master chef, Carol was dreaming of his having more time to spend with their two young daughters and she soon started the IceWorks. What began as a small part-time business quickly became one of the country's first ice sculpting companies. The first three years in the ice business were incredibly exciting!! Jay's work was featured in countless newspapers and magazines...and then in Country Living Magazine (December 1990)...and then on national television on Charles Osgood's Sunday Morning. As the business grew, so did their two little girls, Cheyne and Chase...and eventually they decided to come home to Texas to raise their daughters and IceWorks was reborn here in Houston. They've had the privilege of creating ice sculptures for presidents and kings....for actors and rock stars...for movies and commercials and for thousands of "regular" people...just like us. Most of their carvings are done for the major hotels, caterers and event planners in the Houston area, but they have traveled all over the world to complete major commissions. Jay and Carol now live and work on their ranch in Montgomery, Texas...just off Lake Conroe. The ranch has been the site of some amazing weddings and events and every October, the Maclaskeys host the "Fire and Ice" Barbecue Cook-off. They have now opened up part of the ranch as an event facility (see "The Silver Star Ranch" on the website) where they host western parties and country weddings in their 101 year old barn. Their daughters have now gone to live in Austin. Cheyne (23) has completed culinary school and now works as a chef in a wonderful "up and coming" hill country restaurant and Chase (21) is a young filmmaker. You'll be hearing a lot more about them as the years go by!! They have big plans for the future ,the weekend after Thanksgiving, the Maclaskeys host "The Ice Cutter's Christmas"....where the public is invited to an old-fashioned Christmas which includes a jingle-bell hayride...dozens of glistening ice sculptures on display and lit up ...and a HUGE snowball battle!!
