From Paper to Public Art, The Flower of the Alpine Sun arrives at Falls Creek
Alpine Resorts Victoria (ARV) Falls Creek has had a long history of supporting art and culture within the village through local artists and partnerships. With several existing public art structures and murals spotted throughout Falls Creek, a few very important 2026 additions have provided the final touches to an incredible art and culture experience at Falls.
Community Recovery Funding has supported art activation and a number of local murals throughout the village. The murals have been painted to symbolise some of the most significant flora and fauna found at Falls Creek and have been completed by a local Mount Beauty based artist Elise Marcianti. These murals will also form part of a greater art and culture walk at Falls Creek Resort that offers opportunities for school groups and families to engage with these important environmental aspects that make up the unique alpine landscape in a more accessible way.
Elise putting the finishing touches on one mural of many found at Falls Creek.
ARV Falls Creek also supports grass roots artists via the Melbourne Prize Trust and Falls Creek Artist in Residence Program. This program allows Australian artists, writers and musicians access to accommodation and the unique and inspiring backdrop to help facilitate their final works. This program has helped support artists complete recent works like On Not Climbing Mountains by Claire Thomas. Claire participated in the program through 2024.
As of May 2026 Falls Creek has now reached international significance, following the installation of the Flower of the Alpine Sun (FotAS) art sculpture. Commission design and product has been in the making for over 5 years to reach this milestone. The urban sculpture is the jewel in the crown of art pieces at Falls Creek. The Flower of the Alpine Sun is a meeting of artistic creativity and detailed engineering to bring an active public viewing platform to life, within a drastic alpine backdrop. This sculpture, designed by international artist and renowned urban sculptor Gio Veronesi, sits as one of the highest altitude public art sculptures in Australia, at above 1,600 metres in elevation.
This sculpture stands over ten metres tall and provides a gateway lookout to the Alpine National Park in both winter and summer. This structure is an immersive, engaging and thought-provoking piece that should invite a sense of perspective and wonder both in its artistic form and in the feat of engineering for where it is situated. The location atop the mountain will also provide additional activation of recently renovated Cloud 9, with opportunity for visitors to also engage with environment. Cloud 9 is a cafe and restaurant that is in close proximity to the Flower of the Alpine Sun and was redeveloped in 2025 in time for the winter season.
Gio Vernonesi’s design concept blends the brilliant warmth of the alpine sun via its golden orb form. It manages to tie in both the beauty, resilience and fragility of the alpine environment which will act as a vehicle to educate visitors.
Funding for the project was provided by the Victorian Government’s Alpine Business Support Package in 2022, with final installation of the Urban Art piece occurring before the 2026 snow season. The public art commission is intended to complement the existing artistic assets at Falls Creek Alpine Resort whilst growing opportunities for visitors to engage with the mountain environment in more accessible ways.
The Flower of the Alpine Sun is set to launch on opening weekend at Cloud 9 and will be followed by a series of activations and film festivals through June 2026 to celebrate this exciting milestone.