Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/410828
modern furniture could look like. "I needed a starting point. And what a beautiful starting point," he says. "It re- ally inspired me." So Cameron took a hiatus from the band to attend the esteemed Fine Woodworking Program at the College of the Redwoods in Northern California. There, he and his classmates worked so feverishly and with such excitement and passion that they barely went home at all, regularly working late into the night, long after the workshop had closed. The two years he spent at the school took his work to a new level. "I thought I knew how to do things, like sharpen tools," he says. "No. I didn't know how to do anything. I just rolled over like a puppy." After returning home from California, Cameron went back to Bim Skala Bim and played with the band for another fiv years before joining the Fort Point Cabi- netmakers co-op in Boston. He worked there for 11 years, while playing with the band at night, until finally moving to Gloucester, reasoning, "let's see if I can find a place to be on my own." At first, he spent most of his time doing run-of-the-mill projects like kitchens and build-ins, which left little time for creat- ing his own, more nontraditional designs. It's a conflict that many creatives face: Finding a balance between the work that pays the bills and the creative work that feeds the soul. "I was about to give up on the chasing rainbows thing, when I got a call and got invited to join the New Hampshire Furni- ture Masters," he says. "Now, I'm building things I love and believe in." Membership in the prestigious group has opened many doors for Cameron, and today, his work is shown in places like the Smithsonian Craft Show, the Fuller Craft Museum, and exhibitions in London and Bath via the United Kingdom-based Society of Wood Engravers. Cameron's custom-made commissions and spec pieces are highly in demand around the country, and his designs get more detailed and ambitious year after year. "I'm trying to bring beauty into the world," he says. "I trust my eye more than I ever did." johncameroncabinetmaker.com ● n 230 Cameron's artistic expression first ook form at the piano.