For those of you who missed Ron Mosseller’s program on Saturday, June 14, at the Tryon Fine Arts Center, I just want to say you missed a doozy! Many of you are familiar with this Tryon resident. For those who are not, let me just say that he is not only a Tryon and Polk County icon, but an American icon. With his mother, Lillian Mills Mosseller, he ran the Mills-Mosseller Rug Studio for almost fifty years. They were the only establishment in the United States that made formal rugs and tapestries entirely by hand. Ron’s mother, Lillian, started the rug business in the mid 1920s. In the 1930s she moved, with her four children, to New York. The family’s adventures in that great American city, along with their odyssey back to their native North Carolina, are chronicled in Ron’s new book, “Funny Things Happen When I Look the Other Way.” In his program, Ron reviewed the beginnings of that extraordinary business, and then with the aid of photos of many of the Mills-Mosseller signature rugs continued the story of the evolution of the business. Beginning with the development of traditional American motifs, Lil and Ron went on to create extraordinarily complex designs, termed by many as ‘fine paintings in wool,’ reminiscent of the famed Aubuson and Savonnerie rugs. Among those creations was a ‘white on white’ design that was once exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This was followed by the fabrication of two rugs for the Smithsonian Institution, both of which are still on display in the First Ladies Hall. Mosseller rugs are in scores of prominent American homes and even at least one English home outside London, that of Sir Nick Faldo, the internationally known golfer. In addition to the Smithsonian, Mosseller rugs are in the permanent collections of the Williamsburg Inn at Colonial Williamsburg, and the North Carolina and Virginia Governor’s Mansions. In the spirit of his numerous comedic roles on the stage, Mosseller regaled the crowd with some of the hilarious anecdotes that appear in his new book. The book is now available at The Book Shelf in downtown Tryon, which will host a signing for him on Saturday, June 28 at 4 p.m. Don’t miss the opportunity to visit with this extraordinary man. – article submitted by Julia Calhoun Williams