CHRISTOPHER JAMES ALEXANDER SERVED AS THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR, GRAPHIC DESIGNER, AND PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE REVITALIZATION OF BARNSDALL ART PARK’S HISTORIC OLIVE GROVE.
He initiated and guided a successful public-private partnership with the Barnsdall Art Park Foundation (BAPF), the Los Angeles Parks Foundation, and the City of Los Angeles to restore a beautiful natural resource that was established in the 1890s. The BAPF’s $25,000 Adopt-A-Park grant in 2021 funded the horticultural survey and forensic analysis of the olive grove, repair and improvement of the irrigation system, development of a comprehensive strategy for planting additional olive trees at the park, removal of 20 olive tree stumps, and the pruning of 400 olive trees.
Instead of grinding all of the pruned tree branches into wood chips, every piece larger than 2 inches in diameter was saved. We created the Barnsdall Olive Wood Workshop to transform those olive wood logs into original objects created by a group of renowned Los Angeles artists, designers, architects, and landscape architects. Those unique items were displayed in a group exhibition and sold via a successful online fundraising auction. The profit from each acquired piece was divided between the creator of that item and the BAPF’s Barnsdall Olive Grove Fund. The BAPF’s Adopt-A-Park grant of $33,000 in 2022 was used to plant and maintain 40 new olive trees at Barnsdall Art Park.
PROJECT PARTNERS
BARNSDALL ART PARK FOUNDATION
CJA CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS
LOS ANGELES PARKS FOUNDATION
CITY OF LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF RECREATION AND PARKS
CITY OF LOS ANGELES 13TH DISTRICT OFFICE
LUIS DE JESUS LOS ANGELES
EMMA HABER
BRADY WALTERS
TANYA ANUINIGA
KELLY AKASHI
JAMIE BUSH
JANNA IRELAND
MATT JOHNSON
JPW3
KILLSPENCER
GALIA LINN
NANCY MONK
KORI NEWKIRK
SEV’S WOOD CRAFTS: SEV PAKRADOUNI & KATHERINE PAKRADOUNI
BRENDAN RAVENHILL
AILI SCHMELTZ
AZADEH SHLADOVSKY
EMILY SUDD
TERREMOTO: KASEY TOOMEY
SARAH WATLINGTON
WRK-SHP & JOHN PARK
ROSHA YAGHMAI
PROJECT LINKS: BARNSDALL OLIVE GROVE INITIATIVE • BARNSDALL OLIVE WOOD WORKSHOP
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