Awesome GRRRLS

As I look down at my ever expanding pregnant belly, I take a moment to reflect on the concept of birth and family. I birthed Femina Potens Art Gallery 10 years ago with empty pockets, no home, and a dream. I was 20 years old and fresh off the bus from farm land in Ohio and like so many of my friends, searching for a family on this island of misfit toys. A family that understands difference, that celebrates, rejoices and creates love in their diversity. A family of visionaries and perverts. I felt a strong calling to create space for that family. Space for creation and questioning. A place to push the limits and our boundaries of art and performance. And I was birthing this space whether I was ready for it or not.

Looking back at the past 10 years, I can see the huge strides that we have made in bringing together community, creating space and visibility for sex positive events, sex worker rights, women & transgendered artists, & truly one of a kind programing that opens our eyes to new ways of viewing art and performance with a shared intimacy and bond between the audience and the visionaries. We are all visionaries who are participating in this movement. We are all an integral part of this vision of deconstructing preconceived ideas of What is art? What is gender? What is sexuality? We ask these questions and then redefine these terms in a thousand different ways.

With a decade under our wings, our organization has made our way from art shows in a small Haight St. garage to large scale exhibits around the city of San Francisco, curation of the Historical San Francisco Armory, and hundreds of ground breaking performances featuring artists such as Margaret Cho, Belle de Jour, and Patrick Califia at our successful store front gallery space in the heart of the Castro. We are proud of where we are from,what we have accomplished with the help of our community, and thrilled with where we are headed.

2011 is a year of ReBirth. A year of change. A year of new growth. I was up all night with labor pains(only practice contractions). My daughter, my budding feminist, isn’t due for another 6 weeks but I have a feeling that she will enter the world on her own terms, at her own time, and determined to do her own thing, just like her mother. Femina Potens is laboring for its own rebirth. But we need our family there for support. We are emerging with more exciting programing, innovative performances, one of a kind educational experiences & exclusive VIP red carpet events. We have left our Castro store front gallery space and are moving our new programming to Mission Control along with other allied San Francisco galleries for our upcoming visual art festival, ArtGasm.

By purchasing a Membership at Femina Potens you are joining our family. You are gifting Femina Potens the support we need to thrive for another 10 years and indulging yourself in specialmembers only experiences. With our recent move we are thriving with an incredible line up of events and exhibits for 2011- our membership perks seem to be getting better and better! We will be ringing in the new year by giving you full access to VIP members only events like next week’s Jan 7th VIP Members Only event Naughty Nibbles, decadent art & bondage event with granted members only access to Mission Control’s play party PINK and our upcoming debaucherous VIP Access play parties following Fist Full of Films. As a VIP member you will receive ALL Access Passes to our 2011 programming featuring such sexual and artistic luminaries as Tristan Taormino, Michelle Tea, Annie Sprinkle, Susie Bright, Shar Rednour and workshops such as Strap-Ons & Smut. Where else can you learn how to wield a strap on and write erotic stories all in one class? Check out the full winter and spring line-up on our website: www.feminapotens.org

We want 2011 to be our best year yet, but we need your help in order to make this rebirth happen. We need your support in order to birth this revolution of artists, activists, sexual revolutionaries and ground breaking events. Gift a membership for your partner, your friend, or yourself today (100% tax-deductible) and we will gift you with some extra special attention! Our three levels of membership make it easy and accessible for you to join our family of visionaries and perverts

With all my love, art and orgasms,
Madison Young
Executive Director and Founder
Femina Potens Art Gallery

Tickets and Memberships available at http://www.feminapotens.org/

The link goes to a Facebook note with more information on the membership levels and what’s available.