What is DVS?

Digital Visual Studies is a collaborative research hub for Art Educators, Researchers, and Artists interested in the interplay between digital technologies and art making.

ANNOUNCMENTS

DVS Founder Robert W. Sweeny has published Digital Visual Art Education: Making, Teaching, and Learning through Digital Media (Peter Lang)
This book presents a detailed analysis of digital media as it is currently being used by visual artists. It places these works into a theoretical framework that is useful for research in fields such as Media Studies, Studio Art, and Art and Design Education. The primary goal is to emphasize the multidisciplinary aspects of digital visual art, and to propose a field of study that is unique to this type of art. Digital Visual Art Education combines theories of temporality and multilinearity from media studies, and visual culture studies from art education, into a dialogue with social theories such as feminist new materialism and critical race theory. In doing so, the social and cultural aspects of digital visual art is better understood.
www.peterlang.com/document/1311836
Digital Visual Studies collaborators Robert Sweeny, Christine Liao, and Tomi Slotte Dufva will be presenting findings from their current large scale research study at 2026 NAEA National Convention (NAEA26), taking place March 5–7, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois. The presentation is titled U.S. Art Teachers on Technology, Media Arts, and AI: Recent Research Findings. We hope to see you there.
DVS collaborators Christine Liao, Robert W. Sweeny, and Tomi Slotte Dufva presented Digital Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Media Arts in US K-12 Art Education at the 2025 NAEA Annual Convention, held in Louisville, KY March 19-22.
The Yoon Chung Han Digital Visual Art Education Video Lecture Curriculum Guides have been published here. These guides have been developed by researchers in pre-service, and secondary art educational settings. Please share widely!
Welcome to the newly updated Digital Visual Studies (DVS) website! Based on a recommendation from Graphic Design Professor Tony DiMauro at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, DVS Founder Robert W. Sweeny enlisted the help of Graphic Design and Illustration student Stephen Graham—known professionally as 'Steven Nicholas'—to redesign the site.
Explore more of his impressive work at his official website:
www.stevennicholasdesign.com
Curriculum guides for the Dennis Delgado 2024 DVAE Video Lecture have been posted here. These guides have been developed by researchers in pre-service, secondary, and community art educational settings. Please share widely!
The second 2024 Digital Visual Art Education Video Lecture featuring the work of Yoon Chung Han has been posted here.
The purpose of the DVAE Video Lecture Series is to promote the work of contemporary digital visual artists, and to provide relevant resources for art educators working in preK-12, community, and museum settings. The goals of the DVAE Video Lecture Series are as follows:
1. Create a repository of contemporary digital visual artwork that might be used by fellow artists, art educators, designers, and media theorists.
2. Allow digital visual artists to communicate salient issues and ideas related to their work directly to these audiences.
3. Expand the representation of digital visual artists so that it is more inclusive of differences as related to gender, race, socioeconomic status, geographical location, and age.
DVS Collaborators Christine Liao (PI), Tomi Slotte Dufva, and Robert Sweeny have been awarded a National Art Education Foundation research grant for their research project titled Large-Scale Survey on Digital Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Media Arts in K-12 Art Education in the US. More news on this project is forthcoming!
The purpose of the DVAE Video Lecture Series is to promote the work of contemporary digital visual artists, and to provide relevant resources for art educators working in preK-12, community, and museum settings. The goals of the DVAE Video Lecture Series are as follows:
1. Create a repository of contemporary digital visual artwork that might be used by fellow artists, art educators, designers, and media theorists.
2. Allow digital visual artists to communicate salient issues and ideas related to their work directly to these audiences.
3. Expand the representation of digital visual artists so that it is more inclusive of difference as related to gender, race, socioeconomic status, geographical location, and age.