To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Rye Town Park, the Clay Art Center, the Rye Town Parks Commission and Arts Westchester commissioned local artist Sarah Coble to produce a ceramic tile mural. This is the first of a series of folktale murals to celebrate the ethnic diversity of the park's visitors.
Chinese Folktale: Kai and the Dragon
This is a coming of age story about a courageous boy named Kai, who through labor and cunningness, brought peace and prosperity to his village. Kai's mother was an artisan who produced elaborately embroidered banners. One day Kai pleaded with his mother to keep one of her embroideries for himself. She agreed to keep it if he could earn enough money for the entire year. For one year, Kai woke before dawn to fish and stayed up late cutting wood to sell. At the end of the year his mother produced the most beautiful brocade. The whole village came to admire the elaborately sewn birds and flowers. In a flash the witch from a nearby island snatched the cloth away in a gale wind. Kai immediately raced after it jumping into his fishing boat. A fearsome sea dragon appeared trying to stop him, but Kai grabbed the dragons' tail and he was thrown onto the witch's island. He raced into the witch's castle where he found the witch admiring the beautiful brocade. She laughed when Kai demanded that she return it. Suddenly, a mighty wind snatched Kai and the cloth and carried them back to the village. The villagers cheered to see Kai return. Magically, the animals, birds, and flowers of the banner became real and brought beauty and harmony to the village.
This image of the dragon recalls the historic dragon coaster of Playland Amusement Park and the sea imagery relates the story to this location. The inscription on Kai’s fishing boat "Hunakai" means sea breeze in Hawaiian. It is a reference to my father's boat which I fondly remember sailing on to see the fireworks at Playland. This mural is dedicated to him.
