Claire Falkenstein is internationally recognized for her innovative Abstract Expressionist sculptures, made of thorny thickets of welded metal fused with melted glass. Beginning in the early 1930s, she invented abstract forms that reflected the new scientific and philosophical concepts of the twentieth century.

She grew up in a tiny isolated community on Coos Bay in Oregon. The town had one industry the lumber mill in which her father was a manager. Falkenstein recalled her initiation into a life of art:

"The only art in Coos Bay was the funny papers, with one exception. The wealthy owner of the mill, L. J. Simpson, was a collector. He built a mansion called Shore Acres, above the ocean, which he made into a work of art. From ...