Art by Marika Josephson is featured in The New Territory Magazine’s Pageturner Fundraiser on October 21, 2023.
Buy tickets here to participate in the live and silent auctions. To place a proxy bid, please email tina[at]newterritorymag.com
Featured artwork in our live art auction:
“Power’s Island”
This linocut print is from a series of six prints based on six maps of the Mississippi River along southern Illinois and Missouri created by the United States Coast Survey in 1865. The maps detail the river and its environs from St. Mary’s, Missouri, to Cairo, Illinois. Abstracted from the indications of towns and property owners on the originals, the prints emphasize the mercurial nature of the river: its swooping S-curves, its powerful cuts and islands, its sometimes explosive interaction with the earth, and its human-like corporality. The print is layered with egg tempera paint made with natural pigment from southern Illinois creek stones.
This series of river maps accompanies Josephson’s feature story “River Meanders” in The New Territory Issue 13.
Starting bid for this print at The Pageturner Fundraiser: $75
Marika Josephson and Her Connection to the Lower Midwest
I am the co-owner of Scratch Brewing Company, a farmhouse brewery nestled next to the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois. Scratch makes beer with a sense of place, using Midwestern ingredients that are grown on our own farm or that grow wild in the woods around the brewery to create unique beer that expresses what is special about our part of the Midwest. My art follows a similar tack, exploring what is unique about southern Illinois utilizing found materials natural to our environment.
“It is my hope that through my work, and through venues like The New Territory Midwesterners are able to bring the stories and beauty of this part of the country to life for other people who aren’t as well acquainted with it.”
Hope for Art/Literature in the Midwest
Southern Illinois is a confluence of many biomes and consequently has some of the richest biodiversity in the country. I’m happy that nobody knows how beautiful it is so we don’t have to share it with anyone else! However, it is my hope that through my work, and through venues like The New Territory Midwesterners are able to bring the stories and beauty of this part of the country to life for other people who aren’t as well acquainted with it.
Buy tickets to The Pageturner here to see and bid on Marika’s work and experience Scratch Beer for yourself! Thanks to Marika for donating a case of Black Cherry beer and for donating this beautiful print.