The prevailing question remains: Where is Mike Richmond's wooden wizard?

		Seldom Seen, David Templeton's whimsical perspective on life and times in and around Washington County, appears weekly in Washington Sunday.

There are many artists like Richmond who use materials, skills and inspirations from their day jobs to produce compelling after-hours artwork.

You know the types: Shepherds who become wool spinners, automobile mechanics by day who build muscle cars at night, and reporters who write books in the wee hours.

But it challenges one's imagination to guess how an Allegheny Power Co. lineman like Richmond could transform something from his day job into fine artwork.

No, he doesn't make wire art or jewelry. Nor does he creatively use fluorescence or electricity. And don't think he up and painted his lift bucket.

Woodcarver extraordinaire, Richmond, 49, of Donegal Township, turns old cedar utility poles, what we've always referred to as telephone poles, into powerhouse artwork.

His wood sculptures are dramatic, moody renderings of American Indians and wizened wizards. These wooden oracles can inspire people to seek answers to life's questions.

Such as, "Where's Richmond's wizard?"

Using rotary power tools, Richmond turns old wooden poles into new totem poles, or busts of bearded beings fresh from his deep imagination. Other works include intact root systems which he transforms into heads or skulls. He plans to turn one particularly wild root system into a Medusa-like throng of snakes.

Richmond has carved canes with sculpted eagle handles and wooden masks that can be worn. Nothing happy here. His style is serious, dark, with a focus on humongous pieces that command reverence. His penchant for incorporating knots, cracks and aged wood into his sculptures makes them all the more venerable.

They not only command admiration but also obedience.

He jokes about what future civilizations would think if they discovered his sculptures centuries from now: Mayan ruins? American Indian spiritual artifacts? Some ancient, evil cult?

But speaking of evil, Richmond's artwork attracted too much attention from the wrong people in late August.

Upon returning to his home after a weekend away, he discovered that two sizable wizards he'd carved and hung on his garage doors were missing.

So ticked off was Richmond that he circulated fliers and ran a newspaper advertisement seeking information about the wizards' whereabouts.

His campaign brought results.

A woman who'd read the ad called him to say she had one of his wizards. Apparently, the thieves had broken into her closed tavern in Washington that night. Maybe they removed the larger wizard from their truck so they could fit booty from the tavern.

Or, after loading the vehicle, they forgot to reload the wizard. "Maybe they got scared off and left it behind," Richmond said.

He's continuing his dragnet to find the still-missing wizard, which, carved from blond wood with a beard and a hood, and is 2 feet long, with a knot beside one eye. "It's one of my favorites," he said. "It's a little bit mysterious."

For 13 years, Richmond has installed and repaired high-voltage electrical lines. Old wooden poles put into place 50 to 80 years ago regularly must be replaced. So Richmond gets company permission to keep certain discarded poles to carve his sculptures. Cracks and holes from woodpeckers and linemen's spikes add character.

"They are either thrown in a Dumpster, left for the homeowner or hauled back to the center, where I put in a request for them," he said of the old poles. "Cedar is naturally insect resistant and it weathers well," making it ideal for sculpting.

Richmond has no art training. He drew as a boy and produced a strong likeness of John Lennon after his death in 1980.

A neighbor once gave him a book about totem poles and the Pacific Northwest Indians. His sister-in-law then bought him a book on woodcarving, prompting him to try. His early reaction was, "I think I can do this."

At first, he used hand tools, eventually turning to rotary power tools.

Everything was trial and error until a friend introduced him to Washington bronze sculptor Alan Cottrill, who now operates a studio and foundry in Zanesville, Ohio.

Cottrill told Richmond, who was yet to be convinced his artwork was worthwhile, that he had talent. They became friends.

"I was very impressed with his desire to learn facial anatomy and with the quick advancement of his work beyond primitive, while still retaining a strong primal essence," Cottrill said, describing Richmond as a "sensitive, earthy guy."

Richmond studied Cottrill's method of sculpting faces with a focus on how he sculpted eyes. It helped him develop more lifelike heads.

Never one to read much, Richmond pored over books about woodcarving and sculpting and met with other woodcarvers, who provided positive feedback.

He usually awaits inspiration before sculpting. But once he begins, he fights it each step of the way. "When I'm done, I don't know how I did it.

"I have a tendency to get big, life-size or bigger," he said. "I'm not from an artistic background, so I fight with it and don't know why I do things the way I do. I make whatever interests me at the time."

A bald Indian figure beside his driveway with a wide open mouth was inspired by Harry Potter. He said it was a self-portrait. Anyway, "that's what came out," he said. "It's all like a controlled accident."

"This stuff talks to me. This stuff works for me," he said. "It's good to wrestle with it. I look at it and work at it, and I seem never to get it good enough.

"And I get sick to my stomach when people come to look at my work."

He's sold his works through World West Galleries in Washington and Stout's Country Greenhouse near his home.

"At this point, he's very proficient, and he's reached a professional level," said Peter West, owner of World West Galleries. "His works have a certain raw quality that's edgy and draws imagery from popular culture. He gets in tune with the wood he's working with and has a real natural feel for the materials."

Richmond brings a fresh, unjaded attitude to his artwork, West said.

Bigger works take as much as 200 hours to complete. He varnishes his works and paints them to highlight certain effects. Although he generally avoids happy subjects, he does plan to do a Santa Claus, being excellent in sculpting beards. But his general philosophy is, "All art is not pretty."

And while he's sold a number of pieces, Richmond does not easily part with his artwork. "That's why I'm so adamant about the pieces that were taken," he said.

Wood is not forgiving. Make a mistake and the entire work can be jeopardized. As with the wood, Richmond is not forgiving. He's downright angry. He wants his wizard back.

So he continues circulating fliers. And thieves beware: Richmond climbs poles each day where he can search far and wide for his beloved little wizard.