Former deputy shifts from skulls to fanciful scenes

By CANDACE CHASE/Daily Inter Lake

Rod Meyers, who was forced to retire early from his job as a Flathead County Sheriff's deputy due to a neurological disorder, has turned to his art full-time. He carves detailed whimsical houses out of cottonwood bark. Karen Nichols photos/Daliy Inter Lake

Rob Meyers used to sculpt faces on decayed skulls in his days as a forensic artist in Idaho.

But today, he uses his creativity and skill to create detailed, whimsical dwellings on strips of gnarled bark from dead cottonwood trees. Meyers sold two recently at his first show.

His creations begin with a fanciful house at the top, then progress through all manner of stairs, rocks, ladders and other dilapidated structures to maybe an outhouse at the bottom. Their intricate detail provides a new discovery at every look.

"It takes a lot of time, but it's my signature," Meyers said.

He takes his inspiration from the ridged and knotted surfaces of each individual piece of bark. Because the wood easily sheds pieces as he works, the artist must change plans as he goes.

But the problem for the carver has an upside for buyers.

"You can never do two real similar," Meyers said.

His wall hangings inspire a smile as one imagines tiny trolls or other beings occupying these cliff-side dwellings. It's quite a stretch from his days visualizing murder victim's faces on skulls in Idaho and later arresting bad guys in the Flathead.

It wasn't a change the 52-year-old former sheriff's deputy planned so soon.

He started his law enforcement career with five years as a deputy sheriff in Idaho. From 1992 until March 2007, Meyers worked for the Flathead County Sheriff's Office.

A job-related head injury dramatically changed his life.

"In December of 2005, I was at the county shop getting an oil change," he said. "I slipped on the ice and got knocked out."

By consulting his check-out and check-in times, Meyers discovered he was unconscious for about half an hour. But he dusted himself off and continued on the job in spite of dizzy spells that became increasingly severe.

Meyers recalled one day when he was struck by a disabling spell while trying to arrest a shoplifter. He said he knew then that he had to consult a specialist.

In April 2006, Meyers finally got a diagnosis.

"I have myoclonus and startle disorder," he said. "It's a neurological problem similar to Parkinson's."

His symptoms had progressed from dizziness to an uncontrollable jerking of his head during the day and of his abdomen and legs at night. Any sudden noise such as a telephone ringing or horn honking makes the jerking more severe.

Meyers spent the next year on sick leave before receiving early retirement in March. "I'd never taken a sick day in 14 years," he said. "I had 2,000 hours accumulated."

With a lot of time on his hands and needing a new occupation, Meyers turned to his artistic talent. He remembers drawing and sketching from an early age, especially during church services as a way to keep from falling asleep.

Since his father was a pastor, falling asleep was not a good option. Meyers said that drawing caricatures of the congregation actually allowed him to pay attention to the sermon.

"With attention deficit disorder, my mind would wander," he said.

His father was pastor at the Church of the Nazarene in Whitefish from 1962 to 1970 when it was a little log structure. From there the family moved to Ronan where Meyers graduated from high school.

In college, he took several art courses including watercolors, sculpting and drawing. Meyers also constantly drew cartoons, including political cartoons published by the Daily Inter Lake.

After college, he joined the Canyon County Sheriff's Department where he took training in forensic art. He learned to sculpt faces on skulls to identify the deceased.

He also became expert in making composite drawings. Meyers recalled working on a cold case of a businessman murdered 15 years earlier.

The two prime suspects had vanished when new evidence provided reason for their arrests. Meyers did age-progression drawings to assist law enforcement in locating the men.

He remembered preparing several picture overlays of Alfonso Martinez, who was thought to be living in the Seattle area.

"I sent one to Seattle," he said. "One of the policeman saw the drawing, then looked over in the next car - it was Alfonso."

The other suspect was apprehended without use of the age-progressed drawing.

"But it looked just like him when they caught him," he said.

His carving began as an off-time hobby in about 2003.

"My wife bought me a carving knife," he said.

For a time after his head injury, he worried he would have to give up carving because the jerking affected his hands. Although the disorder continues to cause involuntary head movement, he maintains good control over his hands.

To make use of his new knife, he took a course to learn to carve Santa Clauses through Northland Hobby store.

"Doing that, I realized I needed more than one carving knife," he said.

His collection has expanded to 25 to 30 high-quality knives. Meyers avoids cutting himself by wearing gloves made of Kevlar, the material used to stop bullets in law enforcement vests.

Acting on his sense of humor, Meyers had fun carving some incredibly realistic severed fingers and eyeballs. He got the idea for his whimsical houses from cottonwood bark from a book he discovered at Northland Hobby.

"I bought the book but I do mine completely different," Meyers said. "I started doing things more intricately."

He said the good thing about cottonwood is that it's easy to carve. But it also contains a lot of dirt and grit and crumbles without warning.

Meyers pointed out the window in one wall hanging that suddenly broken during carving. He realized the broken frame added to the dilapidated detail that infuses his work with character.

The artist gave away several of his first creations as Christmas presents before he began to wrestle with how to price his pieces. Following professional carving formulas, his largest five-foot piece came out at $10,000 using carving time and $6,000 by the square inch.

Meyers learned to streamline his process so he could produce pieces faster. He now prices them at $2 per carved square inch, which brought the large carving down to $2,000.

"That's still pretty pricey for this area," he said.

His recent smaller pieces sold for $300 apiece at the farmers market in Whitefish. Since one of those was a wife's birthday present, Meyers finished it off by carving the couple's initials - D.H. + J.H. - into a tiny board on one of the dwelling structures.

Names of his pieces reflect their themes including "Leaning Brick Villa," "Tile Rock Ruins," "Secret Passages," "Mining Ruins at Eye Rock Mountain," and "Ladder to Success."

Meyers and his wife, Holly, put their heads together to arrive at a title that speaks to each piece. They also plan to sell their crafts together at a show around Thanksgiving at the Flathead County Fairgrounds.

The deputy-turned-artist said he still misses the excitement of law enforcement work. But he enjoys the time afforded him to develop his art as well as his writing skills with a detective story he has in the works.

"Life goes on - when one door closes, another one opens," he said with a smile.

People interested in Meyers' work may call him at 314-4359.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.