While employed under the federal Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression, Velonis brought the use of silkscreen printing as a fine art form, referred to as the "serigraph," into the mainstream.

Early on, he took creative inspiration from figures in his life such as his grandfather, an immigrant from the mountains in Greece, who was "an ecclesiastical painter, on Byzantine style.

[5] One such project required him to go on a commercial fishing trip to locations including New Bedford and Nantucket for a fortnight, where he primarily took photographs and notes, and made sketches.

[7][10] Under the leadership of Velonis, "The team of six artists at the Graphic Arts Division who pioneered new screen-print technologies included Harry Gottlieb, Louis Lozowick, Eugene Morley, Elizabeth Olds, and Hyman Warsager".

When interviewed in December 1994 by the Library of Congress about his time in the WPA, Velonis reflected that he had greatly enjoyed that period, saying that he liked the "excitement" and "meeting all the other artists with different points of view.

[7] Around 1937[7]–1939,[12] Velonis wrote a pamphlet titled "Technical Problems of the Artist: Technique of the Silkscreen Process," which was distributed to art centers run by the WPA around the country.

More important, artists printed their own images, thereby re-establishing the direct relationship between idea and process that intervention by master printers in etching and lithography had altered.

It has been successful both as to quality and efficiency under the direction of Richard Floethe and has produced since its inception many hundred thousands of posters by the silk screen process.

He was thoroughly familiar with every aspect of silk screen technique, having previously worked in commercial shops; and he became more and more struck with its possibilities as a color print medium for artists.

It is his organizing and adapting ability that has made the serigraph possible for artists, and it is the collective momentum of himself and his associates that has spread the knowledge to all parts of the country.

[1][8][21] It started out with relatively small commercial projects, such as "rather fancy" Christmas cards that were sold to many of the upscale Fifth Avenue shops for a dollar apiece.

[7] Over time, the company grew and completed larger-scale works for organizations such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tiffany's, and the now-defunct Hyperion Press.

"Velonis and Warsager were partners and operated Ceraglass and a related company called Ceragraphic until they sold the firm to VCA Corporation in 1969.

The United States' entry into World War II resulted in a general lack of materials for commercial usage, causing the company to begin printing on plastics as an alternative.

By dissolving a resin made from ground-up lipsticks, he was able to facilitate the grinding of pigments more effectively, allowing for the paint to stick due to the migrating plasticizer within it.

[1] Velonis' colleague Hyman Warsager had been drafted into the military previously, and was assigned to Lowry Field, where he worked on projects related to graphics arts, photography, and printing.

He also experimented with techniques in stained glass, creating a large 2'x8'15" -panel display for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City around 1965.

The scholarship is offered to undergraduate or graduate students studying "glass, ceramic or related curriculum including engineering, design or art.