Meet the Staff – Joanie

Have you ever been curious about who makes the handbound books BatCat Press produces?  This year, we’ll be introducing you to our four new staff members that work year-round on creating our beautiful journals and publications! We hope you enjoy!

Joanie is a junior at LPPACS who joined BatCat Press this semester.

NAME: Joanie 
AGE: 17
FAVORITE BOOK: Can’t decide
FAVORITE AUTHOR: Mary Downing Hahn 
FAVORITE GENRE TO READ: sci-fi mystery
FAVORITE GENRE TO WRITE: primitive fiction and science fiction
OTHER INTERESTS: drawing, taking care of her cat Corndog, roller skating, and working at Sonic.

Joanie joined the staff in our second semester, but she’s been involved year round making things, especially book covers!

“I’m a hands-on learner,” Joanie says about why she likes being on BatCat. She describes other classes where you have to read and analyze as not being for her. “I’m better at making things with my hands than reading or anything like that.”

Joanie has been heavily involved with the hands-on side of BatCat, mostly when it comes to book making. Joanie has a talent for making beautiful, clean, and well put together book covers, and she’s certainly used that talent to the fullest. Joanie has made somewhere around 30 book covers – so many that it’s become a group effort to turn them all into finished books. Several members of BatCat have sewn signatures and folded paper for the books that Joanie started, and the outcome is a beautiful collection of group effort journals and sketchbooks.

“The number one thing (that surprised me about BatCat) is how many ways you can bind a book,” Joanie says. She’s made mostly traditional flat spines but she hopes to learn how to make coptics and Belgian styles as she progresses on BatCat.

Joanie prides herself on working fast and efficiently. She looks forward to putting together the publications in the spring. “I’m good at mass production,” she says, “I like having a part in something bigger.”

Outside of BatCat, Joanie is very artistic. She’s interested in game design and loves to create characters. She has an art account on Instagram (@joanie_of_art) where she posts images of her progress.

Joanie also spends a lot of time with her cats. Her cat Corndog lived as a stray that roamed around outside of Sonic, where she works. “It took all summer for me to convince my mom to let us take him in,” Joanie said. “Now he’s my best friend.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written by Henry Wahlenmayer and Alexa Bocek, BatCat Press Staff members.