Electra Makes

Electra Michael Pelias

Artist, Educator, and MFA Graduate Student at George Washington University

Education:

Master of Fine Arts, George Washington University

August 2024 –

Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Loyola University New Orleans

August 2020 - May 2024

Major GPA: 3.47 Minor GPA: 3.94 Cumulative GPA: 3.64

Ceramics, Tulane University New Orleans

August 2022 - May 2024

GPA: 3.9

High School Diploma , The Willow School (Formally Lusher Charter School)

August 2017 - May 2020

High School Diploma

Graduated with distinction, community service recognition, and a Certificate of Artistry in Stagecraft

Awards and Certifications:

Dr. Gerald S. Clack Community Engagement Award

Loyola University New Orleans

Spring 2024

This award is presented to a psychological sciences major who exemplifies, in an outstanding fashion, the service-oriented feature of professional behavior.

Janet Mary Riley Award for the Advancement of Women's Issues

Loyola University New Orleans

Spring 2024

The Magis Student Leadership Awards is a ceremonial salute to university excellence. The Janet Mary Riley Award for the Advancement of Women's Issues is presented to a Loyola student who has demonstrated outstanding leadership on issues central to women on campus and in the larger community. The student promotes the mission of Loyola University New Orleans and has demonstrated commitment to women's issues through programming, research, leading an organization, or through other academic efforts.

Dean‘s List (Loyola University New Orleans)

Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024

Certification in Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative Training (CITI) for Research Ethics

Experience:

Retail and Production Assistant, Relume Co.

Sep 2024 - present

Relume is a woman-owned, Washington DC-based home goods & accessories brand. As a Retail and Production Assistant, my responsibilities vary from day to day. This includes cleaning and restocking the store, assisting customers of all ages with craft bar activities (candle-making, charm jewelry, watercolor, and/or beading), set up stations for different crafts, processing new inventory arrivals through Shopify, informing customers of shop promotions and events, processing customer payments through Point-of-Sale system, wick, pour, and decorate candles in bulk, perform permanent jewelry application and as well as other production related tasks.Relume is a woman-owned, Washington DC-based home goods & accessories brand. As a Retail and Production Assistant, my responsibilities vary from day to day. This includes cleaning and restocking the store, assisting customers of all ages with craft bar activities (candle-making, charm jewelry, watercolor, and/or beading), set up stations for different crafts, processing new inventory arrivals through Shopify, informing customers of shop promotions and events, processing customer payments through Point-of-Sale system, wick, pour, and decorate candles in bulk, perform permanent jewelry application and as well as other production related tasks.

Ceramic Arts Teacher, Country Day Creative Arts

June 2024 – present (summers)

Country Day Creative Arts (CDCA) is a unique 5-week program in which children ages seven through fourteen, select five classes from over thirty choices in the visual arts, performing arts, and sports. After many years as a Summer Art Teacher Assistant, I have been promoted to the status of Ceramic Arts Teacher. In my class, I introduce the students to techniques, processes, and aesthetic concerns of ceramics as a studio art medium. I additionally develop original projects, class plans, schedules, budgets, and a final exhibition of their works.

Writing, Math Models, Statistics and Psychology Tutor, Office of Writing and Learning Services, Loyola University New Orleans

January 2023 – May 2024

The Office of Writing and Learning Services at Loyola University New Orleans offers free peer tutoring to all full-time undergraduate students by their own peers. As a writing tutor, I assisted many different individuals with all writing needs, including prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. As a psychology tutor, I provide both psychology and non-psychology majors assistance with the concepts and methods of psychology. This semester I was asked to additionally take on the task of tutoring math models and statistics.

Art Teacher Assistant, Country Day Creative Arts

June 2016 – June 2024 (summers)

Country Day Creative Arts (CDCA) is a unique 5-week program in which children ages seven through fourteen, select five classes from over thirty choices in the visual arts, performing arts, and sports. As a Summer Art Teacher Assistant, I interacted daily with over 360 young artists aged 6 - 14, including those with special needs and behavioral disorders such as Autism, Selective Mutism, and ADHD and assisted senior staff in four different classes, concentrating in areas relating to ceramics, theater, and music.

Small Business Owner, @ElectraMakes

May 2020 – present

In May 2020, I started a small business making masks and other handmade items to keep myself occupied during the pandemic. Now I have moved on from face masks and have started making ceramics, jewelry, stickers, and upcycled clothing. Additionally, around once a month or so, I either organize or co-run events to raise money for various causes. I sell my handmade goods and 20% goes to that month's cause. I have done popups for many organizations such as the NO/AIDS task force, United Friendship, and The New Orleans abortion fund, raising more than 1,000 dollars in donations. I believe it is very important to give back to local mutual aid in New Orleans.

Skills

Photoshop
Pixelmator
Hand building
Sculpting
Bookbinding
Printmaking
Glaze mixing
Kiln firing
Woodworking
Microsoft Office (Word, Powerpoint, etc)
Creativity and Imagination
Attention to Detail
Time Management
Empathy

Relevant Coursework:

CSA 6091: Contemporary Theories of Art in Public (Fall 2024):

Analyzed shared historical and theoretical trajectories of socially engaged art practices and the social worlds of art practices more broadly. Analyzed the orientations and methodologies of the social and relational aspects of creative practices and works in the broader context of contemporary culture. Investigated and analyzed the intermingled histories of art, visual culture, movements, and cultural theories. Described, interpreted and evaluated my own work and the work of others in the context of relevant cultural, historical and theoretical influences.

CSA 6101: Ceramic Furniture (Fall 2024):

Designed and created 3 large, structurally sound coiled objects designed to
act as furniture. Gained an advanced understanding of ceramic science as it relates to shrinkage, pyroplasticity, structural stability, and firing of large-scale ceramic objects. Learned to create wedged coil forms, utilizing bridges, buttresses, and appendages. Explored surface decoration techniques including stamping, carving, and various slip techniques.

CSA 6096: Studio Visits (Fall 2024): Ongoing critical discourse about each student’s creative work through regular studio visits with the instructor, as well as onetime visits by international, national, and regional artists. Restricted to students in the MFA in fine arts program and other Corcoran students with the permission of the instructor.

CSA 6095: Critical Practices (Fall 2024):

Interdisciplinary studio supporting the production and analysis of creative work. Critiques and discussions challenge students to develop and articulate their creative practice. Emphasis on conceptual, aesthetic, and theoretical development. Restricted to students in the MFA in fine arts program.

VISA A200: Drawing 1 (Spring 2024)

Developed perceptual and descriptive skills through a variety of drawing media, techniques, and subject matter. Learned fundamental drawing concepts and their applications in traditional and contemporary contexts, through a series of daily exercises, lectures, and assigned personal research.

ARTH O215: Modern Art History (Spring 2024)

Studied the historical developments in painting, sculpture, photography, and architecture, following a rough chronology from the late nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War. This course covered the major stylistic movements with which modern European and American artists have been associated (including Expressionism, Cubism, Dada, and Surrealism) and explored the different ways that critics and historians have

interpreted artworks of this period.

ARST-3012: Advanced Materials and Fabrication, Ceramics (Spring 2024)

Covered the broad range of ceramic related materials available to the maker/artist working in the field. The course contextualized clay as a creative medium historically as well as its uses in contemporary art and design. Formats for investigation included exercises and assignments that demonstrated specific testing approaches used by practitioners in the field with lectures and discussions about the various ways we can understand and use materials in our own work.

ARST 2140: Intermediate Ceramics: Mold Making (Fall 2023)

Continued investigation of clay as a studio art medium. Course covered the use of molds to create a variety of original forms in clay, working with both porcelain casting slip and traditional “plastic” stoneware. Demonstrated adequate skills for clay object fabrication at the intermediate level using single and multi-part plaster molds, major surfacing techniques, including Slip work, Engobes, Glazes, and Over-glazes, fundamental design principles successfully to create visually resolved and interesting compositions, and the ability to conceive, plan, fabricate and present finished works within the context of specific assignments. Mixed porcelain casting slip and loaded and fired ceramic ware in electric and gas fired kilns.

VISA A245: Bookbinding/Book Arts (Fall 2023)

Introduction to fundamental book art formats and structures and contemporary approaches informing in book arts today. Developed skills in book art techniques such as concertina, Ulagami, popups, embossing/debossing, pamphlet stiching, case binding, and Coptic binding, with a variety of personal projects.

ARST 3020: Raku Pottery Intensive (Summer 2023)

The history and contemporary practice of the Raku fast-firing process of pottery. In addition to the development of fabricating skills, this class introduced aesthetic ideas associated with Raku, past and present, and emphasized creative thinking and problem solving. Developed a familiarity with working clay as a studio art medium, the ability to make creative decisions based on compositional and conceptual criteria, understanding of clay and glaze composition and manipulation, and a broad understanding of raku firing and post firing techniques.

ARST 2130: Intermediate Ceramics, Introduction to Wheel Throwing (Spring 2023)

Introduction to the processes, techniques, aesthetic, and utilitarian concerns associated with wheel thrown stoneware vessels as a ceramic art form. Developed skill set for ceramic wheel throwing, including the ability to wedge and center clay on the wheel, pull a cylinder and form a range of basic shapes, and trim to complete the vessel. Additionally learned to mix clay in standard mixers and pug mills, and load and fire ceramic ware in electric and gas fired kilns. Utilized appropriate vocabulary and design awareness in critiques to discuss and analyze ceramic forms.

ARST 1130: Foundations of Art, Beginning Ceramics (Fall 2022)

Introduction to techniques, processes, and aesthetic concerns of ceramics as a studio art medium. Produced a body of work that demonstrated a reasonable ability to fabricate clay forms using a

variety of hand-building techniques, utilizing various ceramic surface techniques, as introduced with each assignment, developed an understanding of quality craftsmanship, demonstrated evidence of personal innovation and problem solving and developed an awareness of the interdependent nature of form and content, and how the elements and principals of design connect them.