Garrison Clower, 12, poses with a puppet from “The Bluebird.”CLAIM TO FAMEGarrison Clower, 12, has been one of the lead actors in puppet-theater productions at the Mountain Arts Community Center on Signal Mountain this year. He portrayed the lead role in the debut performance of an original play, “Beastie’s Birthday Party” this spring, and soon will take on several roles in a reprisal of local theater guru Fred Arnold’s adaptation of “The Blue Bird.”ABOUT HIMName: Garrison Clower.Age: 12.School: Sixth-grader at Center for Creative Arts.Siblings: Sisters: Mary Jane, 13; Anabelle, 10; and Madi, 9.Hobbies: Reading, puppeteering, acting and cooking.Favorite book: “The Fable Haven” series by Brandon Mull.NEXT UPGarrison Clower will portray several characters in a production of Fred Arnold’s puppet theater adaptation of “The Blue Bird” at the Mountain Arts Community Center, 809 Kentucky Ave., Signal Mountain. Shows are at 7 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $5.TALENT SHOWDo you know a child age 17 or younger with a precocious talent in academics, athletics or the arts? The Times Free Press is searching for children to feature in “Talent Show,” which appears in the Life section on Tuesdays. To nominate a child as a possible subject of a future feature article, email staff writer Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or call him at 423-757-6205.
Garrison Clower has always been exceedingly curious, a characteristic that, at times, has spelled trouble for the family appliances.
Some of the victims of his innate desire to understand how things work include the family vacuum cleaner, which he disassembled at age 2. Later, he turned his attention to the toilet, which he flushed repeatedly to figure out how it functioned, eventually flooding the bathroom and leaking water through the kitchen ceiling. The family was forced to evacuate for a week while repairs were made.
“If he sees something he’s never seen before, he’ll stop and study it,” said Garrison’s mother, Anna Clower. “I had to learn to slow down with him and stop and study things I might otherwise miss.”
For years, Clower and her husband sought an outlet for their son’s passion. They tried all the “traditional sports,” but none took. Garrison would dutifully take the field, Clower said, but he was just as likely to be bent over looking at grasshoppers as he was to be paying attention to the game.