Falkenstein was born in the first decade of the century and was still hard at work in the last.  Her life was precisely coincident with the 20th century, and she was a full participant in the tumultuous events in the art world.  Her work incorporated modern technology, process, assemblage, chance, light, space, and what has been called “anti-form” as creative principles.

Falkenstein was a contemporary of the Abstract Expressionists but, in fact, started sooner, lasted longer, and surpassed them in formal vocabulary, in the variety of materials she used and in her highly experimental techniques.

Starting her career, (working, teaching and exhibiting} in San Francisco until 1950 when she moved to Paris for a dozen years, Falkenstein then relocated in Los Angeles.  In other words, like a heat-seeking missile, she found and participated in the liveliest and most challenging art centers of the time.

Putting her in the immediate milieu of many of the century’s greatest artists, she studied, worked, competed, collaborated and, in several cases, became close personal friends with several, including Alexander Archipenko, Clyfford Still, David Smith, Hans Arp, Mark Tobey, Antoni Tapies, and Alberto Giacometti.

Many years later, she said: “. . . there were marvelous things, marvelous people, but I took it all in stride. I was completely engrossed in what I was doing.  There were people who were accustomed to being treated with deference and I guess I didn’t – and I guess that’s why they got interested.” (Falkenstein, Oral History, UCLA)

Throughout Falkenstein's career, she created a prodigious amount and variety of work, well beyond the traditional categories of painting and sculpture. She explored printmaking, ceramics, functional art, jewelry, and public monuments -- ranging from the miniature (jewelry) to the colossal (50’ fountains and 100’ stained glass windows). And in each of these areas, her accomplishment has been consistently and unmistakably of historical significance.