Read the full story at The Globe and Mail.
On July 25, 2026, this article was on the cover of for the Globe and Mail’s Saturday issue. It was also cover story for that issue’s arts section.
Water pours into John Felice Ceprano’s rubber boots as he fishes a glossy, football-shaped rock from the Ottawa River.
The 79-year-old carries the stone past a flock of swimming geese, gets down on one knee and perches one of its narrow tips atop three more grey slabs already stacked into a metre-high pillar.
The resulting formation – known as a cairn – is one sculpture among dozens Ceprano has erected in lines and semi-circles this summer at Remic Rapids.
This year marks 40 years since Ceprano began building cairns at the river’s outcrop. What started as a spontaneous creative impulse in 1986 has evolved into an annual attraction, with his rock sculptures drawing international media attention and turning the site into a beloved tourist attraction that invites crowds from the world over.
But Ceprano isn’t thinking about any of this history as he works through the July heat. He’s fully focused on his art.
“That’s just a distraction from being in the moment, right?” he says. “The whole point of what I do is that we’re in the now.”
Photo caption: Photography by Jess Deeks