- In this edition of Artistic - Horizons, the artistry behind cosplay, the Auto Room Guild is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

We're a wonderful community that are all obsessed with Star Wars, and we turn our dreams into reality.

- Watches full of style.

- Looking at people's wrists is an obsession of mine.

It can be present day, it can be movies.

It really doesn't matter.

- Documenting culture and society, - I hope it affects them in a way that they can look at their own lives a little differently, look at their own community, and be inspired by these people.

- It's all ahead on this edition of Artistic Horizons.

Hello, I'm Mark Cenero and this is Artistic Horizons.

The Outer Rim Guilds is a not-for-profit educational organization in Florida dedicated to George Lucas's Star Wars.

From costuming to choreograph stage combat to prop creation, members of this fan base group can spread their knowledge and be a part of a welcoming community.

Take a look.

- The Outer Rim Guilds is a place where you could create a character, put on a costume, and perform that character in front of people.

If you want to do Light Saber Combat, great.

We can teach you.

If you just want to put on a costume and talk to people, we could do that.

The Outer Rim guilds is for everybody.

We don't discriminate against any race, creed, or color.

Star Wars is made up of all kinds of characters, and so are we.

The Outer Rim Guilds is a not-for-profit Lucas Film approved costuming group.

My name is Kevin Daniels, and I am actually the local director for the Outer Rim Guilds.

We do cosplay.

We teach people how to build sets and props.

We also do lights, saber choreography.

We put on shows and informational panels where people can come and see demonstrations and ask questions.

Our main focus is giving back to the community, the Star Wars community and the sci-fi community.

When we go to a convention, you know, we're presenting and performing.

- My name is Christopher Allard.

I am a board member and I'm also one of the characters.

My first day with the Guild, that was probably my first class for the Saber choreography, just like a lot of the new members now in the choreography class.

They don't know about the Guild yet.

The guild's still growing.

It's getting out there, but it usually starts with the classwork from there.

I spread the word since I'm the instructor now, but they can continue on into the costuming and to the big production stuff.

Building a fight is a funny and slow process.

Usually you get paired up with a partner that's roughly your level, and then you stare at each other for a half hour and say, what do you want to do?

And the other one says, what do you want to do?

And that's about the first 30 minutes of it.

After that, you loosen up and you start saying, okay, I want to do this, this, and this.

And the other person says, okay, then I'm gonna counter with this, this, and this.

And from there, you start putting a fight together.

- My name is Stephanie Moffett and I, I believe my full title is Costume director.

What's really important when you're a Lucas Film Guild is that you stand up to the standards of what you see on the screens for Lucas film.

So when we go to start designing a costume, the first thing we have to do is we've gotta look at the source materials that we have so that when somebody sees you wherever you are, they go Star Wars, and you go, yeah, and there's a, there's a so many tricks of the trade for making that work.

And the early films, you don't see a lot of fasteners, especially on Jedi, apparently.

They just use the force to hold their stuff together.

We use a lot of snaps.

The fabric you choose is incredibly important.

We use natural fibers and then sometimes it's just the magic of how the fabric holds together.

This first thing I would do is I'd pop those buttons off of there.

I would stitch the the, the base of this up, and I would close up these buttonhole.

And then up here, what I would do is I would put either a hook, an eye, a snap, or some magnets.

But if you did that, this is pretty much a shirt ready to go.

- What is it like performing as a character?

Well, it is a performance, and it is a character.

So if you can make a small child or a teenager or even an adult think that you're probably really a Star Wars character, and they don't have to be afraid and they can see how much fun you are having interacting with them, well, that's a pretty good feeling.

People that have loved Star Wars their whole lives might not have ever thought that they could do this.

And we tell them, yes, you can.

- We just got a request in to do a parade in Oldsmar.

This will be our second year doing that parade.

It's great because obviously they want a big presence in their parade, and we're able to fill that gap.

They want that Star Wars, they want characters.

They want people cheering for us.

So doing parades is awesome, you know?

Yes, it's a lot of walking, but that's why you want to invest in a pair of boots that you could walk around in a lot.

When it comes to charities, we get contacted by local groups and they're looking to raise money, and so they're looking for that presence.

We could be there to do lightsaber demonstrations or run little shows, but we also had one of our members as a electronics expert.

He actually built a lightsaber and we raffled it off the outer rim.

Guilds helped raise $1,500 for kids and canines one year at a convention.

Once everybody learned there's a chance to win a lights saber.

I mean, it went crazy.

We love doing that switch.

- My name is Michael Poupart and I'm a new member for the Outer Rim Guild.

From my point of view, the Outer Room Guild is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

We're a wonderful community that are all obsessed with Star Wars, and we turn our dreams into a reality.

- The sense of community in the Outer Rim Guild, well, it's a little more than a community.

- I would've to describe our community more like a family.

Everyone's welcoming, encouraging, very supportive, - Kind people who really wanna hang out with other people that are as geeky about Star Wars as they are.

- It is a family oriented group as well.

So parents, children, we invite the whole family in and everybody's so nice.

Everybody's there for Star Wars, everybody's there for the Guild, - And they just want the best for everyone and everyone's happiness.

Just to let me know that I can be myself and be this Star Wars nerd.

It's okay.

- And now for the artist quote of the week, Randy D. Williams loves watches so much.

So he founded his own watch company, tally and Twine, made of the finest raw materials.

Each timepiece created is a work of art that leaves buyers coming back for more.

We travel to Portsmouth, Virginia for the story.

- Slip, slip, - Slip Tally and Twine started about 2014.

As an entrepreneur, The thing I get the most fulfillment from is creating.

Back in 2008, I was in a bad state financially.

I had just had my car repossessed and two of my investment properties, including the one I lived in, where in foreclosure.

So I was having a conversation with my cousin who lived in Chesapeake, Virginia.

I was in Atlanta, and she said, you know what?

Why don't you just come and stay with us for a while?

We got an extra bedroom.

And I took her up on a offer 'cause I was clearly about to be homeless.

And I stayed because I realized that Hampton Rose had a lot to offer for me.

I met my wife and I started a business here.

So while I got my first watch, and during my senior year in high school on a trip to The Bahamas of Cruise, bought it for $40.

It was a guest watch, and I just fell in love with it.

So for birthday and Christmas, my go-to gift was a watch.

One day, I was on my lunch break at work.

At my last job, I was talking to my wife and I asked her, I was, what do you think about me starting my own watch company?

I couldn't find watches in the price point that I wanted.

I couldn't find the quality that I wanted or the design that I wanted.

And as a creative person, I just began to sketch out the things that I would want on a watch that I wanted to wear.

And that's how tall Twine was born.

Once I figured that I had a design that I would like to wear, then I began my research process.

So I got on Google and I realized that the next step for me was just bringing the watch to life.

So bring in some real artists.

So I hired someone online to create a graphic design of the watch.

And then from there, I hired somebody to create a 3D model of the watch with the specifications, the size, the detail, the materials that will be used.

I used that 3D model and I gave that to manufacturers that began to get samples.

Italian twine is actually an intersection here in Virginia, it's in Portsmouth, and it is near the location where my wife and I purchased our first home.

We became homeowners and got our first taste of the American Dream, and it was significant to us personally.

I felt that it could represent just the change that occurs in in our lives, and the fact that we don't have to finish the way that we started.

As we've grown, I no longer sketch the watches myself.

We start with an inspiration board.

This is a model that is not released yet.

I pulled together some images that kind of speak to how we ultimately want it to look.

And then I give the direction for the designer over here, only feature the number seven on our watches.

So I wanna build around this constellation cluster called the Seven Sisters, and incorporate that into the dial of the watch to have a celestial themed design.

And so I'll give the designer this, and then they'll in turn, give me back some examples, and then we can tweak it from there.

This is just the various pieces that we need for assembly.

We assemble those pieces based on what that customer wants.

So we received the orders this year from both Macy's and Nordstrom, but overall, I think we want to continue to keep that relationship with our customers and sell directly on our website so that we can reach back out to them and really bring them into what we call Italian Twine family.

We started with our leather band watches, but now we have leather bands, metal band collection, and we also have Canvas collection, which is our more casual style.

So I would like to say that we have watches for everything that you're doing in life.

We have about 125 skews.

No two days are the same.

It involves some form of overseeing content creation.

As a digital first brand, our content is the most important aspect of what we do.

So that's some type of photo shoot, video shoot, and coordinating that with our social media staff.

Also, you know, checking the sales for the day.

Like, how are we doing?

Are we slow?

What do we need to get some type of promotion?

Taking a look at the ads, how much are we spending on advertisements?

A bunch of meetings and phone calls.

Who's wearing Italian twine?

A little bit of everybody.

The most recent incident that comes to mind was that the new mayor of Atlanta chose to wear Italian twine during his inauguration.

And he swear in his ceremony, you know, he's putting his hand in the Bible, he has Italian twine.

Watch on for, you know, one of my favorite cities.

Looking at people's risks is an obsession of mine.

It can be present day, it can be movies.

It really doesn't matter because to me, I wanna see how it fits.

Why did you choose this design?

And also trends.

I wanna see, what are people wearing?

Why are they wearing this, and where are they going when they have this on?

This is a collaboration that we did with Tuskegee Airmen Association.

It's officially licensed product.

We reached out to them probably last year, and we've been in development for a few months after that.

And we finally dropped it this year.

It sold out twice already.

It just features the P 51 bomber, blown by the Red Tails during the war.

And then it also has the red buttons to signify the Red Tails.

And on the back of the watch, we got custom engraving with the Tuskegee Airmen logo as well.

My former roommate from college and I are business partners In about 2019.

He came on board as a part, and he left his corporate job.

But we also used to be roommates at Albany State University in Georgia.

We decided to do a $10,000 business scholarship, starting at Albany State, but also going nationally to other HBCUs for students who are interested in entrepreneurship and business.

We've been extremely blessed starting out with nothing.

And last year we did 2.6 million in revenue.

We're able to sell products nationally and internationally.

It is been a very rewarding experience.

- Now here's a look at this month's fun fact with her camera photographer, adventurer, and human rights advocate.

Eleanor Moseman focuses on the social and cultural narratives of underrepresented groups.

We head to Ohio to learn more.

- I'm Eleanor Moseman, a human rights activist and visual storyteller.

I went to Virginia Commonwealth University for my undergrad degree.

A guy I was dating at the time move to Shanghai to help his brother, who had an architecture firm in Shanghai and asked if I wanted to go, and I said yes.

So in 2008, I moved to China.

It was a big change.

I had a hard time adjusting.

I was applying to photo studios for assisting work, and I had one studio tell me blatantly, we will not hire women because our clients will not respect you.

I started planning a bicycle tour around China.

It kind of had to do with this just really big depression I fell into, and I knew that I had to change my life in one way or another.

It ended up lasting about two years and a bit over 15,000 miles.

I ended up wandering all over the country, spent about four or five months in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

I got really sick.

And so I just decided, okay, no more bike tour.

I'll just stay in Xinjiang and spend a couple months documenting Uyghurs and their life and the countryside.

The Uyghurs are a group of people persecuted by the Chinese government.

They speak a language that's closely related to Turkish and Uzbek.

It's its own language.

The original intention was not to spend two years on a bicycle, but the further I got, the more I became comfortable with it.

Sleeping in culverts under the road, sleeping almost on the side of the road, exposed, riding through the mountains during the wintertime.

I just became used to it.

It just became second nature and was almost like uncomfortable.

Became comfortable.

I think it was the second month of my bike tour that a man decided that he was going to lock in a room with him and he was going to have his way with me.

And that was not the last time, but it was one of the more intense times I was able to get away.

I would just get so pissed off because when I'm out there on these, these adventures and expeditions, I don't see myself as an American.

I don't see myself as white.

I don't see myself as a woman.

I don't see these labels.

I'm just existing.

And it's like every time I'd be harassed, it was like, thanks for, thanks for making me remember all that stuff.

Like thanks for making me remember all these labels that I don't want to adhere to.

But eventually I get to this point where I'm riding down this gravel road and there's a bunch of Tibetan prayer flags, and I see this monk coming towards me, and he invites me into his house.

I'm tired, I'm hungry.

Yes.

Okay.

And so in the morning, his sisters were getting dressed to go to the, the market, and they were putting on these beautiful gowns of this like deep rich reds and this Tibetan brocade.

And I started photographing them.

And I remember that exact moment, like photographing these women in their home.

Like I didn't even, I wasn't even existing there.

I finally was able to say, yeah, you know, I'm a photographer.

Like I am a photographer.

If I had to sum it up in one sentence, when people ask me about it, I'm just like, yeah, I learned to love myself.

I was in my early thirties.

I was figuring myself out.

And most importantly, I figured out what I wanted to do.

I started photographing Tibetans and Uyghurs, and it was, it just seemed to be my calling - Her photography's, giving them a voice and a presence because their culture will disappear, their history and her.

So her photography is capturing the essence of who they are and what is going on.

I'm in awe of her passion and her perseverance and how much she loves these people.

I asked her once, I wish I had the passion she has for something like she has for representing these people.

For the persecuted - People talk about, oh, well, as a woman, you have to take different precautions.

You have to be more careful.

But I also believe if you haven't found the benefit or the perks or the strengths of being a woman, like you haven't found your power of being a woman yet.

The fact that I am let into households that mothers give me their children to hold and leave to work in the field while I'm in their house with their children, like I don't, a man would have those options.

And I know they don't.

I've talked to plenty and they're like, you get access that we don't get.

So there's a few women that stand out in my mind most vividly.

And one would be Jam Yang Samo and her mother gala.

Gala is the matriarch of the household.

And she has a daughter, John Ymo, which is, which was probably about five or six years younger than me.

But I was not just a guest.

I learned how to herd yaks.

They thought it was very humorous when I could not milk a yak.

I helped with food.

I just became part of the family.

And these women get up before the men before sunrise and get to work immediately.

And they are the last to go to bed.

It is constant work.

They live in one of the most difficult environments, and they're facing, you know, these issues against the government.

And it's just, it's like every day is is gonna be a struggle, but they face it with just such compassion for one another.

So during summer of 2022, I competed in an ultra endurance bicycle race.

The Silk Road Mountain Race, which takes place in Kyrgyzstan.

It's noted as the most difficult race in the world.

I was the only woman from North America to complete the race.

A total of three women finished the race.

So I arrived in Kyrgyzstan a couple months before the race because I wanted to acclimate.

And unfortunately, I was one of the cyclists that got very sick.

And during those four or five days of being sick, I was just crying nonstop because I was convinced I wasn't gonna be able to race.

And I was just like, it's all gone.

It's, you know, it's, it's over.

I tried to recover as much as I could.

I showed up at the start line and I ended up at the finish line 15 minutes before cutoff.

So even with all of that happening, I still finished that race.

I've learned what being brave and resilient is all about.

And most importantly, I learned those.

I learned what that is by watching and living with the women I did out there.

They are the ones that are brave and resilient and compassionate.

These people showed me who I am.

And I also hope that when people see these photographs or hear these stories, the viewer isn't overcome with a sense of hopelessness.

I hope it affects them in a way that they can look at their own lives a little differently or look at their own community and you know, be inspired by these people that are facing some of the worst injustices that anyone could ever imagine.

But they still persevere.

And now - Here's a look at a few notable dates in our history.

And that wraps it up for this edition of Artistic Horizons.

For more arts and culture, visit wpbs tv.org.

Until next time, I'm Mark sro.

Thanks for watching.