Art in the making

Kids decorate floor tiles that will adorn the new Nordstrom's store at Ala Moana Center

Five-year-olds Leighton Tomerlin and Davis Wolf enjoyed some precious daddy/son time Saturday before their fathers deploy for the Middle East. "I'm counting the days so this is valuable time ... that special time before I leave to go out the door," Davis' Air Force dad, Jason Wolf, said.

It was a creative time, too.

The boys were among 200 children, ages 5 to 12, who painted floor tiles at the Children's Discovery Center; their whimsical and colorful undersea creations will become part of a new kids' clothing department at Nordstrom at Ala Moana Center. The tiles will be permanently installed throughout the aisles connecting the boys', girls' and infants' departments.

Wolf hopes to be back for the store's opening March 7, when the children will have a scavenger hunt to find their own tiles.

Bart Tomerlin, Leighton's dad, knows he'll miss the opening -- he leaves for Iraq with his Navy unit in October. But he is looking forward to receiving photos and video footage of the event. "Our two boys met in preschool," he said. "I'm just spending as much time as I can with the whole gang."

Artist Charlie Bigger, who travels throughout the Nordstrom empire to help create the special floors, gave lessons on glazing the tiles and brought sample tiles for inspiration.

"One young man didn't want to work on an ocean theme; he wanted to create a dragon," Bigger said. "I told him that was fine. It could be a sea dragon. We cut them lots of slack. ...

"When they have their own kids, they can bring them to see the tiles. It's not a kid's project that gets stuck up on the fridge for a while ... these tiles are permanent. It ends up looking so nice."

Participants paid $50, with proceeds benefiting the Discovery Center. Loretta Yajima, president and CEO, said the project fits well with the center's mission, "to nurture the development of a child's imagination and the power of their dreams."