CHRISTOPHER JAMES ALEXANDER IS A STORYTELLER, strategist, DESIGNER, and artist.
He is the Founding Principal of CJA Creative Collaborations LLC. Since 2015, he and his talented clients and skilled project partners have developed engaging content and successful initiatives dedicated to sharing inspiring insights about extraordinary spaces, places, and people.
Prior to launching his business, Christopher was a curator of architecture and design at the Getty Research Institute. As a founding member of the Getty’s Department of Architecture and Design and Department of Architecture and Contemporary Art, he and his colleagues created groundbreaking exhibitions, contributed to ambitious interdisciplinary initiatives including Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., and helped acquire pivotal collections associated with the evolution of Southern California’s built environment.
Christopher is the co-curator of internationally acclaimed exhibitions including:
His projects have been featured by organizations including:
Christopher is the co-editor of the award-winning publication, Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940—1990; the author of Julius Shulman’s Los Angeles, the co-creative director, co-managing editor, and contributing author of Amplified Urbanism: Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects; the co-creative director and managing editor of Personal Space: The Drawings of Lawrence Halprin; the contributing author of World Architecture and Society: From Stonehenge to the One World Trade Center; and the contributing author of the South Korean and American editions of James Jean: Eternal Journey.
He served as the consulting director, president, and vice president of the Barnsdall Art Park Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustaining, activating, and enhancing the landscape, infrastructure, and public programs of Barnsdall Art Park. The popular destination includes Hollyhock House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, which was designated Los Angeles’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. The park is also the home of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Gallery Theatre, and the Barnsdall Art Center and Junior Arts Center.
Christopher initiated and led a public-private collaboration with the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Parks Foundation that revitalized Barnsdall Art Park’s historic olive grove. He also designed the Barnsdall Foundation’s new website, logos, and fundraising materials, which resulted in its heightened public profile and expanded community of donors.
In 2003, Christopher founded the West Los Angeles Civic Center Plaza Revitalization Alliance. He served as the designer, project manager, and City of Los Angeles Neighborhood Matching Fund grant writer for the public-private coalition’s 2004 transformation of a neglected historic resource into a popular community destination for outdoor concerts and the weekly West LA Farmers Market. He is the co-author of Reclaiming the Courthouse: Preserving and Activating the West Los Angeles Civic Center Plaza, published by Docomomo US in SPECIAL EDITION: Recreation and Play Vol. 2.
He earned his Master of Architecture degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and Bachelor of Arts Degree in Fine Arts and Art History from George Washington University. He is a member of the California Garden & Landscape History Society, California Preservation Foundation, Docomomo US, Los Angeles Conservancy, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Pasadena Heritage, Santa Monica Conservancy, and Society of Architectural Historians.