Claire Falkenstein (/ˈfɑːlkənˌstaɪn/;[1] July 22, 1908 – October 23, 1997) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, jewelry designer, and teacher, most renowned for her often large-scale abstract metal and glass public sculptures.

Falkenstein first worked in the San Francisco Bay Area, then in Paris and New York, and finally in Los Angeles.

An interest in Einstein's theories of the universe inspired Falkenstein to create sculptures from wire and fused glass that explored the concept of infinite space.

Her grandfather, Valentine von Falkenstein, a medical student of noble birth from Frankfurt, emigrated to the United States after the German Revolutions of 1848-49 as a political refugee and became a pioneer in Siskiyou County, California.

[5] As a child, Falkenstein would ride her horse in the dark on the beach to see the sun come up and spend time looking at the shells, rocks, seaweed, and driftwood, and these nature forms inspired her sculpture.

[6] Falkenstein attended the University of California at Berkeley, and graduated in 1930 with a major in art and minors in anthropology and philosophy.

[8] Her art education continued in the early 1930s at Mills College, where she took a master class with Alexander Archipenko, and met László Moholy-Nagy and György Kepes.

Topology itself is a term in mathematics when discussing the relations between objects and space, and in a non-mathematical sense it means how things interact with each other.

[2] She taught art classes at various Bay Area locations, such as UC Berkeley Extension, Mills College, and the California Labor School.

[7] She also taught at the innovative California School of Fine Arts, alongside abstract expressionists such as Clyfford Still, who would become a close friend and artistic influence, and Richard Diebenkorn.

This was part of the Federal Art Project, which strongly preferred paintings depicting American scenes, but some abstracts such as this work by Falkenstein were tolerated.

In Paris she met many artists, including Jean Arp, Alberto Giacometti, Sam Francis and Paul Jenkins, as well as art connoisseur Michel Tapié who acted as a sort of mentor and promoter for the Americans.

Out of economic necessity, Falkenstein inventively used inexpensive nontraditional materials for her artwork, including wooden logs, stovepipe wire, and lead bars.

The gates, each of which was 12 by 4 feet (3.7 m × 1.2 m), marked the first time she created a never-ending screen with repeating modules attached in various directions, giving the impression that it could continue forever.

Through a student, Helen Burke, she met composer Terry Riley, who produced with Pauline Oliveros and Loren Rush an improvised soundtrack to her short film “Polyester Moon”.

[18] Falkenstein received many high-profile commissions for large public art pieces, including sculptures, fountains, and screens.

“U” as a Set measures 12’4”x 19’x12’10”made from 6,000 pounds of copper tubes and pipes that were bent and welded with each piece of material varied in diameter and length.

[9] The sculpture is placed in front of the McIntosh Humanities building in a fountain pond at California State University, Long Beach.

She describes her work as a topological sculpture due to the curving pipes and tubes that embody the idea of penetration and surfacing.