On Saturday, October 4 at 10:30 a.m. at Tryon Fine Arts Center, Ron Mosseller will give an encore of his delightful program first presented on June 14. The program features photos of many of the Mills Mosseller Studio’s most noted rugs and tapestries and stories from Mosseller’s new book “Funny Things Happen When I Look the Other Way.” A guided tour of the Mosseller exhibit will follow. New items have been added to the exhibit since its opening including the original renderings for the rugs he created for golf legend Sir Nick Faldo and for the Eugene O’Neill Museum.

The book includes a large number of anecdotes chronicling his family history, beginning in the early 1700s with his direct ancestor, Col. Ambrose Mills, a major figure in Polk County’s history, and builder of the iconic “Seven Hearths” now located at the junction of Harmon Field Road and Highway 176.  The book also covers the fascinating history of the Mills-Mosseller Rug Studio founded by Ron’s mother, Lillian Mills Mosseller, Polk County native, who moved with her children to New York in the 1930s where Ron’s adventure in the arts began.

An artist and artisan of exceptional talent, he studied at the Art Students’ League in New York. He remains the country’s only formal tapestry and rug maker whose works are wrought entirely by hand. His creations, “fine paintings in wool”, reminiscent of Aubusson and Savonnerie, are in scores of prominent American homes and are in the permanent collections of, among others, the Smithsonian Institution, the Virginia and North Carolina Governors’ Mansions, and the Williamsburg Inn at Colonial Williamsburg.  Mosseller also works in watercolor and pen & ink and his new book is illustrated with a number of his whimsical pen an ink drawings. Beloved for his marvelous humor, his work with Friendship Council and his numerous roles on stage, he remains a resident of Tryon.

Admission to exhibit is free of charge. Books and original renderings are available for purchase. For more information, visit www.tryonarts.org or call 828-859-8322.

-article submitted by Julia Calhoun