a business i started in about 1980, and what it has become is a place where you can get the most accurate historical copy of just about any piece of arms and armor in the last thousand years. early onwe made contacts with several museums in europe. we did things with the wallace collection, which is a museum in london. we actually were doing some things for royal armories. in this country, we've done everything from the title weapons for "ernest scared stupid," right on through to the latest kate blanchett "elizabeth" movie where we did all the high end rapiers. we've got stuff on display in the chicago art institute. we do work here in minneapolis with the art institute where we come in with original pieces and show replicas. the globe theater in london. so you can travel the world and you will spot our things. this is an elbow, this will go right here,

and when you close your arm, it -- that's about the movement you get and these fins will close the gap. when it's extended, you still have protection. we try to replicate the original techniques as much as possible. a lot of the tools that existed 500 years ago, today exist in miniature. the only people who use a lot of those tools anymore would be silversmiths. so, the hammers weigh four ounces or five ounces. i need the three pound version. you've seen quite a few tools, i would say 80% of those we've made. that's partially why we get such good results, because we're trying to stay faithful to their techniques. now you have the whole unit, which you can move this way, can pivot that way, and the whole thing will sit right there. we try to capture the essence, the spirit, and the feel of the original. and partially it's made easier for us because we have a lot of originals. it's a lot easier when you've got a 16th century original to look at, and as you can see, there's a lot of similarities.

the difference being, i made this last week, and somebody made this in about 1570. wherever possible we will handle the original. for example, if we're going to put a new sword in our catalogue, if possible i'll go to the museum where that sword is. what i want to be able to do is take the original and take ours and set them down side by side and not really be able to tell the difference. this is a suit of armor we're building for a private individual, it's based on a german one from about 1510. if you add up every little element, yeah, there's probably close to a hundred pieces of metal in an armor like this. this is definitely an artistic endeavor; it's rlly free-form sculpture. when you're doing a suit of armor, really what are you doing but creating a hollow, life-size sculpture in more or less the form of a human being. we start out with flat pieces of steel and we hammer it out, and shape it, and fit it, and polish it, and do all of the work. what we're working on here is a custom sword hilt.

we have a picture. we go from that picture to figuring out the shape. we take bars of steel like this, and with many, many hours, filing, hammering, welding, we turn these into something like this. and we're matching it exactly to a historical original. and when we put a grip, which is the handle you actually hang on to, you've got a finished sword. gregory bentson: it takes about as much time to think about the project, as it does to actually do it. i'd say in a nutshell, yeah, that's the process. craig johnson: okay, now we're going to heat treat the head. we're going to place it on the fire, get it hot, and then use the process of quenching the steel to create a piece that is going to be hard, durable, and springy. chris: by viking age, in 700, a sword is supposed to be able to bend

into an arc and snap back. so by the 7th century, people have figured out how to heat treat steel effectively so that you'll get a spring instead of a paper clip. craig: looks pretty good. you can tell when your heat treat is relatively successful because you'll get this shiny gray, or kind of a flag gray, i guess, but the scale comes right off. that means it's gotten hard. chris: part of why i'm doing this is because i was well enough educated to find out what it was all about and appreciate it. we don't just to teach the history of swords and the history of armor. that's pretty limited. what we try to do is teach history using these as hooks, as props, and if we can bring them into a wider world through this portal, through this entry point of loving swords or armor,

well, that's a great thing. rhea: to see more of christopher poor's work, visit his website, armor.com his work is also featured in our area on the ship god's speed, at jamestown settlement, and at the folger's shakespeare library. next, we meet photographer scott baxter, whose found inspiration in the american frontier in arizona. for almost a decade, baxter has photographed over 100 cattle ranchers and their ancestral ranches. he's helped to document the vanishing traditions of america's legendary west. rider: yah, yah, yah. [ whistles ] [ cattle mooing ] scott baxter: some of these ranches we're photographing

aren't going to be around because development is gonna find its way in, and there's a lot of ranches i know that there's no one coming up behind them, so they'll most likely be sold. and i just thought, what if photographically i could at least try to record some of these families that have been around here since 1912 or earlier. and that's - it kind of started that way. i didn't really plan to do anything with it, i just wanted to see if i could accomplish it. we call it "100 years, 100 ranchers," and basically the criteria is the family has been nching in arizona continuously since 1912 or earlier. henry amado: my ancestors came here from valencia, spain, in the 1840s, and they were coming to tucson by covered wagon. this is the amado family, my great-grandfather. about 1852 is when they setup the ranch at alamo bonito, in what is called amado.

scott: this family is a very historic family. it goes back a long way. and a beautiful ranch, too, in one of my -- santa cruz county's probably one of my favorite places to be in the whole state. photographs should be really easy for you to look at. you know, it doesn't mean it has to be pollyannaish, or, you know, beautiful or anything. just has to be easy. if it's easy, it's good. if i push too hard, if i really try too hard to push a photograph, it just doesn't work out for me. i kind of let the photograph come to me. there's not a set process. i want to get this side, too, because it's got your brand on the horse's shoulder. you know, aside from scouting a little bit the day before, and knowing i wanted to use the big sycamore tree, there's not -- i don't have a list of what i'm going to do, i just kind of walk in and... it's kind of the way i've always worked, i just kind of wing it. it kind of works for me. doesn't work for everybody, but it does for me.

perfect, guys. the last one with the camera for now at least. henry: i was standing there, last evening, by the tree, between two horses, with my son and grandson on each side of me... [voice cracking] very proud. scott: it just gives you an idea, it's a small shot. now, you gotta kind of look at it... you want to show that pride. i mean, they're very -- as a group, they're very proud of their heritage, and very proud of what they do. so that's where we're at. we're going to shoot a few more with this camera. with the portraits, you just kind of, you know, you kinda take a little more time and kinda get your frame up the way you want it and then you read your light and shoot it. 5-6, 125. henry: i think it's a wonderful thing that scott came up with this idea. scott: this is actually very nice where we're at now. it's recorded history.

i don't think they're really looking for recognition, but i think they like the fact there's going to be a record of this somewhere for their kids. i treated this in a lot of ways just like it could have been shot, you know, 100 years ago. i bring a digital with me, but that's to shoot stuff for them. we're shooting straight black and white, no lights, so it's basically camera, film, and a tripod, and that forces me to really think about composition because i don't have a lot of tricks in my bag, and it kind of makes you think a bit more as a photographer. henry: i don't know of any rancher that doesn't work hard. they have to. no, i don't have to do this. i've always been a very successful cpa, and with my son as my partner, the business is still going, and maybe that's why i can afford to be,here, because if he's there, i don't have to be at the office. but i enjoy being here, and at my age, i deserve to be here.

i think it's love of the ranch, love of the land. scott: the brandings can be kind of exciting. you got two guys roping and dragging calves, and you've got three or four cowboys throwing cows on the ground. sometimes with the action stuff, i don't really have time to do too much but just kind of hang in there. you don't want to be the cause of somebody getting hurt. you don't want to be the cause of livestock getting injured. and certainly don't want to get hurt yourself. so you stay dialed into the frame, but you certainly kind of have to have a few things going on in your head at the same time and keep yourself cognizant of what's going on around you. this one is a bit more -- this is like the old style. >> the old western? scott: yeah.

i've not had a bad experience. and i've got a story for every single ranch that i've been in. that's perfect right there. hold that. you know, the photographs are kind of the icing on the cake, but the real thing is i just... thank you, sir. that's it. you know, they are a great group of people. i've just be honored to have the opportunity to meet them and spend some time with them. they're all hard working. they're just hard working people who just like -- they love what they do. and they really love the land. that's the thing that i've kind of come away with, they really love this land and they really want to take care of it. rhea: baxter has released a book of his "100 years, 100 ranchers" project. for more information visit 100years100ranchers.com. kwame: now, our next artist's work couldn't be more opposite, boldly challenging traditional genres of music, dance and performance.

baltimore-based shodekeh is a professional beatbox artist and vocal percussionist with a dynamic, improvisational style. his performances are simply compelling. shodekeh: [beatboxing] i've always been into the qualities of sounds. i used to do a lot of sound emulations from cartoons, from movies. the transition from vocal mimicry of sounds to creating music happened when i was in high school. i was already a heavy, avid listener of a lot of hip-hop, and all forms of music, actually. a lot of rock 'n roll, more jazz. that's when i started to tune my ear and my vocal abilities to try and create more music with it. and then in my freshman year of college i started to explore more musical options with what i had available with my voice and i joined an a cappella group. when that happened, i had opportunities to compose as a vocal percussionist.

so, instead of just always backing up mcs or battling djs, which is a whole 'nother form of composition within itself, i was given a new challenge; i had to capture something emotional this time, because we didn't just do one specific style or genre of music with the a cappella group that i was in, we did a wide variety of genres. and that was a very important moment in transitioning to my career as a musician. [beatboxing] i think i've always wanted to work within varying genres of music, and i didn't realize it until these opportunities sort of came to me. like for example, i was our musical accompanist for this poetry event called "slam side," and it was my job to accompany the other musicians and the other spoken-word artists. and there was one fateful day, january 2006, vincent thomas, a professor of modern dance here at towson university, was in the audience. he approached me about having me come in

and play music for a dance class. i thought he meant for like a week or two, or maybe two weeks, but he meant for the entire semester actually. so when that happened, a whole new world just opened up to me. [beatboxing] i was at the point, willing and able, to take it to anywhere just to see where i stood as a musician, if i could match wits with these different forms, whether it was in dance or even the visual arts, doing musical interpretations of still work, and trying to find ways to have music as a tool to bring the artwork to life, those sorts of challenges. and also to, not just to challenge myself, but to challenge the people within these genres who aren't used to these sorts of experiences, to kind of challenge their notions or preconceived ideas of what a beatboxer is supposed to do -- or not supposed to do -- because there are some people who didn't like that i was beatboxing for ballet. but i kinda didn't care because i was there not just to challenge myself, but to challenge them, too. [beatboxing]

i know i'll always want to work as an accompanist for dance. it's not even a performance, it's like praying for self-improvement, not just for myself, but for the professor, the students. it's a very unique experience that kinda goes beyond any description through words. [beatboxing] i just want to keep myself inspired, keep others inspired, keep myself from burning out, doing a lot of work for little to nothing. fundraising is an art form i want to master. i'm working on that. [ laughs ] rhea: shodekeh's work goes beyond the dance studio and has included performances with a cappella singers, poets, and symphonies across the country. his new facebook music page is at www.facebook.com/shodekeh. and now here's a look at some arts events around our town.

wraps it up for this edition of artworks. visit mpt.org/artworks, where you'll find feature videos and upcoming arts events. i'm rhea feikin. please join us next week. i'm kwame kwei-armah. announcer: artworks is made possible in part by the mpt new initiatives fund founded by irene and edward h. kaplan.

[captioning made possible by friends of nci]

>> dad-- >> martin. >> mom--how are you? >> i'm fine. >> how was the flight? >> well, a bit bumpy out of lisbon. >> all right, the car's this way. ahem. your letter didn't say--are you here on holiday? >> we need a reason? >> well, no, i mean, it's just--it's been--it's been some years since we spoke. >> really? has it been years? >> 7. >> oh. good of you to collect us. hope you didn't have to reschedule any important patient care. sore throat? lumbago? [mr. ellingham chuckles] [cows moo]

>> oh, god. >> bless you, martin. my car's given up the go. so you couldn't drop us off at my place, could you? [martin sighs] >> get in. >> all right, hang on a minute. >> sorry about this. >> maureen-- >> oh, louisa, i'm sorry. my mom had to drag me out of bed this morning. i could sleep for england at the moment. >> well, if this is you tired, i can't wait to see you when you got some energy. >> i wondered if it could be my thyroid. >> yeah? >> my mum's got it. everything slows down. you're tired all the time. you can't lose

weight. she had it for years before anyone diagnosed it. >> well, maybe you should get it checked out. what? >> i don't want to go and see the doc. he's so-- >> yeah. he's a total pain in the ass. >> martin, you couldn't-- [beep] [starts engine] sorry. thanks. just doing some d.i. work. i mean, hence this--

[coughing] i'm danny--ahem--danny steel. >> christopher ellingham. this is my wife, margaret, martin's mother. >> pleased to meet you, chris, margaret. >> so you're a builder, hmm? >> architect. london-based. >> oh, london? what are you doing here? i mean, not much of a challenge. you two been friends for long? >> no. just met. >> but we have a lot in common, don't we, doc? both come down from london, both searching for, and found a more enriching way of life. >> yeah. >> well, thanks again. hope i haven't made you too late for anything.

bless you, chris, margaret. mate, you saved my life. [danny coughs] >> you're coughing a lot. you may have a chest infection. >> well, i don't believe in antibiotics for a cold. it would have been gone by now if it wasn't for the wood dust. oh. martin, your parents--are they always like that? your mom? >> you should use a mask. >> why, have they got something? >> when you're sanding the floor. >> i know--joke. >> goodbye. >> god bless you, martin. >> this is old jim sim's place. huh. is there room? it's like a

doll's house. >> it's got a spare room. it's quite small, but you can have my room while you're here. >> oh, one spare room. hmm. well, we're here now. >> is everything all right, mom? >> mm-hmm. >> dinner at the portwenn hotel, hmm? 6:45. [girls laughing] >> what you reckon, girls? [christopher chuckles] >> hey, hey. >> whoo! >> i like that. [knock on door] >> come in. >> maureen tacey. works at the school. she's a bit tearful. lived with her mom all her life, [indistinct]. probably prefer a female doctor. here you go, maureen. ok?

>> thanks, paul. >> come in, sit down. so? >> i think it could be me thyroid. >> and what makes you say that? >> my mum's got thyroid. i've got the symptoms. i get tired easily. >> you're overweight. >> i just can't shift it. >> well, let's get you on the scales. >> i'd rather not. >> oh. um--have you thought about your diet? >> i've tried atkins, g.i., the zone, south beach, and the cabbage. i've been on more diets than anyone i know. >> which would suggest you're not committed to any of them. >> louisa thinks it could be me thyroid. >> oh, does she? >> what are you doing? for goodness sake-- >> no, just--well--well, wait a minute. i haven't finished my

examination. >> oh, yes, you have. [door opens and closes] [thud] >> ahem. [seagulls] >> and woods on the 60. >> i'll get changed. >> woods is in good form. >> is mom ready? >> she'll join us later. >> is she all right? >> why do you ask? >> well, she's hardly spoken a word to me. >> i've cancelled the table at the hotel. i thought we should go to the crab. >> what for? >> page 1, martin. first time in a new place, buy everyone a drink. >> the line is good. yeah, good pace. [applause] >> oh, shot!

>> right. >> i haven't had the time to do me exercises. sorry. >> that's all right. let's start with some vowels, shall we? ♪ i, a, e, o, u >> ♪ i, a, e, o, u >> very good. now, tongue behind the top of the teeth. and-- >> ♪ i, a, e, o, u >> come on. you can do this. >> uh-huh. [maureen laughs] [continues singing exercises] >> all right, doc, what can i get you? >> i'm not-- >> bitter? >> let me go, please. christopher ellingham. what's your poison? >> you--you a doc, too? >> no, i'm a surgeon.

>> oh. well, i'm mark, the doc's friend, and i'd like to think, a professional colleague. portwenn's police officer. no, no. i've--i've got one in. thanks, i was just going to get one for-- >> no, i insist. >> oh. well, that's--that's very generous. i'll have a pint of extra smooth, please. >> and a glass of water, please. >> doc-- oh. he seems nice. this is nice. >> i'm not in the mood, mark. >> doc, before your dad gets back--i've got some news. >> what? >> you'll never guess. >> i don't have to. >> go on, try. >> no. >> i'm getting engaged. huh. well, i think so--i hope so. i haven't asked her yet. i'm going to ask her. i bought the ring. >> julie mitchell? >> yes, julie. she's great, isn't she? you know, i was trying to think of the word. the right word for her. she's a

woman. and i've made inquiries in that department, if you don't mind me saying so. successful inquiries. no problems, you'll be pleased to hear, with my equipment. no complaints. the opposite of complaints. >> you've know her for how long? mark-- >> oh, jumping into the fire, eh? >> well, i--i hope so. >> oh, brave man. >> excuse me. >> a pint? >> yeah, i'd love one. >> hello, mate. we're having a talent night tomorrow. i'm assuming nothing would horrify you more. >> that's correct, yes. ms. tacey, you left my surgery without giving me a chance to explain. a good indication of poor thyroid function is cold hands. you have very warm hands. which means we need to do further tests. >> oh. i--i owe you an apology. >> yes, you do. come to my surgery in the morning. >> hello, doctor. >> ms. mitchell. >> hey, julie.

>> we should go. >> oh, really? it just got interesting. christopher ellingham. delighted to meet you. >> julie mitchell. i don't think anyone's ever kissed my hand before. >> oh. careful now, doc. she's spoken for. >> i'm sure she is. look, why don't you two join us in-- >> oh, no, mark--mark-- >> oh, i thought the doc was probably going to-- >> oh, now, now, now--come on. huh, huh. i need to get to know my son's circle of friends, hmm? please. >> thank you. >> i'll get some menus. >> still, what entertaining. >> i'm glad you enjoyed yourself. >> he possesses a wonderful naivety, your chum. >> yeah. >> he'll have his work cut out, though. >> what do you mean? >> well, the only way he's going to keep her is if he locks her up in a cell. mind you, you'd have to drug them to keep them, hmm? like two peas in a pod, you two.

[christopher chuckles] >> dad--dad-- what is the matter with mom? >> she's tired. >> oh, right, she's so tired she can't speak? >> that's right. got a decent malt? >> yes, i have. >> what are you doing in this place? >> what? it's fine. i like it. >> still got the flat in kensington? >> yes. >> huh. [christopher chuckles] >> what? >> oh, nothing. this whole cornwall thing--it's obviously some sort of midlife crisis. >> no, it's not. >> then why did you keep your place in london? huh? i'm told house prices have rocketed in cornwall. >> uh--yes, i understand they have. >> well, what are you waiting for? i mean, prices are going