Sandow Birk Artist Talk and Reception

Learn about Sandow Birk’s art, the history of women’s soccer, and Title IX

Sandow Birk

Sandow Birk, Proposal for a Monument to Women’s Football for Riverfront Park, 2026, ink and pencil on paper, 60 x 42 in. Collection Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS. Image Courtesy the Artist and Catharine Clark Gallery

Join us at the Nerman Museum Wednesday, September 9, from 6-7 p.m. for an artist talk with Sandow Birk, moderated by Kelsey Patterson Nazar, with a reception to follow. This event is free; livestream option is available. RSVP requested.

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Los Angeles artist, Sandow Birk, is a well-traveled graduate of the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design. Often developed as expansive, multi-media projects, his work addresses contemporary life in its entirety. With an emphasis on social issues, common themes of his past work include inner-city violence, graffiti, political issues, travel, war, and prisons, as well as surfing and skateboarding.

Birk’s drawing, Proposal for a Monument to Women's Football in Riverfront Park (2026), was commissioned by the Nerman Museum and is featured in Sport and Spectator – an exhibition that celebrates the dynamic intersection of the visual arts and sports culture. The exhibition invites viewers to consider how sports shape our society, impacting both the individual as well as broader life and culture.

In his fanciful drawing of a proposed monument to women’s soccer, Sandow Birk has layered references to history onto the façade of an enormous architectural structure imagined near the current CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, home of the KC Current and the first stadium purpose-built for a women’s professional sports team. Starting at the base of the monument and moving upward, Birk traces the path of women’s soccer from 1863 to today. The registers of the monument show the convoluted path of the sport from its initial popularity, through barriers, discriminatory efforts, and eventually to the Title IX legislation which established equal funding for women’s sports across the United States. These cases catapulted women’s sports to new levels – eventually resulting in US dominance in global women’s soccer for the past 25 years.

Kelsey Patterson Nazar is the Vice President and General Counsel for Johnson County Community College. She serves as the College’s chief legal officer, advising institutional leadership and supporting the College’s mission through practical legal counsel.

Sport and Spectator will be on view in the Nerman Museum’s First Floor galleries through December 6, 2026. The exhibition, originally on view at the McNay Art Museum, was organized by René Paul Barilleaux, Head of Curatorial Affairs; and Lauren Thompson, Curator of Exhibitions.