Visual Arts Research

Editor: Sarah Travis and Laura Hetrick

DETAILS

Current Volume: 51 (2025)

Issued biannually (Summer and Winter)

ISSN: 0736-0770

eISSN: 2151-8009

Subscribe Now Access Online Individual Access Permissions

About

Visual Arts Research (VAR) provides a forum for historical, critical, cultural, psychological, educational, and conceptual research in visual arts and aesthetic education. Unusual in its length and breadth, VAR typically publishes 9 - 12 scholarly papers per issue and remains committed to its original mission to provide a venue for both longstanding research questions and traditions alongside emerging interests and methodologies.

Submit to the upcoming special issue: Radical Publications in Art + Design Education. Deadline for submissions is June 1, 2024.

Indexes

Advanced Placement Fine Arts and Music, Art & Architecture Complete, Art & Architecture Index, Art & Architecture Source, Art Abstracts (H.W. Wilson), Art Full Text (H. W. Wilson), Art Index (H.W. Wilson), Art Source Ultimate, Book Review Digest Plus, Brepols, Current Abstracts, EBSCO, Education Abstracts, Education Full Text, Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson), Education Index, Education Research Complete, Education Research Index, Education Source, Education Source Ultimate, Gale Academic OneFile, Gale Academic OneFile Select, Gale OneFile: Fine Arts, Gale World Scholar: Latin America and the Caribbean, InfoTrac Custom, OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson), OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson), Poetry & Short Story Reference Center, Scopus, TOC Premier

SUBSCRIPTION RATES

Click here to subscribe.

Individuals:	1 Year
Print Only	$50
Online Only	$50
Print + Online	$60

Institutions:	1 Year
Print Only	$80
Online Only	$80*
Print + Online	$90*
*Institutional 'Online Only' and 'Print + Online' subscriptions must be purchased through the Scholarly Publishing Collective.

Non-U.S. Postage: $10 Canada/Mexico, $15 Other Non-U.S. Locations

Single Issues: $20

ONLINE + PRINT ADVERTISING

The print ad rates for all our titles can be found in the 2025 journals catalog/rate card.

Click here to download the PDF version

Call for Papers

VAR special issue: Radical Publications in Art + Design Education

This special issue of Visual Arts Research invites manuscripts and creative work that explore radical conceptions of research and publication practices in art + design education. Investigations of the complex intersectional spaces of the arts, education, and research have produced areas of scholarly inquiry such as Arts-Based Research (ABR), Arts-based Educational Research (ABER), Community Based Arts Education (CBAE), and rich collaborative practices.

However, the publication, legibility, and access to that research within the traditional academic publication process poses different challenges for authors, artists, practitioners, and the communities they serve: first time and early career authors navigating the sometimes murky waters of academic language and publishing protocols; valuable artistic research that may not directly comply with traditional publication requirements; lack of mentorship and guidance in the review process; lack of access to published work behind institutional pay walls; an overly academized, colonizing practice that prevents polyvocality when talking about education and community engagement; and reviewer biases in the “blind” peer review process.

With this in mind, we are soliciting manuscripts that explore the nuances and possibility spaces of a radical imagination or “the ability to imagine the world, life, and social institutions not as they are but as they might otherwise be” (Khasnabish & Haiven, 2014)1 of scholarly publication. We encourage manuscripts exploring:

● Histories of radical forms of publication and counter-culture publication processes like zines and chapbooks

● Radical approaches to research and publication in the arts and education

● Teaching about/with radical or subversive publishing practices

● Collaborative and community engaged co-research and co-publication

● Profiles of artists/educators radically reimagining spaces of research and/or publication

● Radical imagination addressing issues of access in scholarly publication

● Visions for the future of research and publication in the arts and education

For this issue, we are prioritizing first time authors, early career academics, and emerging scholars to contribute manuscripts; in particular we welcome proposals and manuscripts by classroom teachers and other arts educators outside of higher education.

With this in mind, veteran authors are welcome to submit manuscripts for review OR participate as mentors to less-experienced authors in the review process. Mentors will receive co-editor acknowledgement for the special issue.

All prospective authors will participate in a peer-to-peer review for this special issue, pairing early career and/or first time authors with more experienced authors during the review and editing process.

Manuscripts can take one of three formats:

● Traditional scholarly manuscripts responding to the special issue theme (4500 words plus references)

● Teaching resources, curricula, or guides addressing the special issue theme (1200-1500 words)

● Creative works reflecting the special issue theme (images accompanied by an artist/s statement of 500-700 words)

Deadline for submissions: June 1, 2024. Publication Summer 2025

Manuscript submissions and requests to participate as a mentor:

var.radical.publications@gmail.com

Questions? Contact:

Courtnie N. Wolfgang, Rhode Island School of Design

cwolfgan@risd.edu

__________

1 Khasnabish, A. & Haiven, M. (2014, July 22). Why social movements need the radical imagination. Open Democracy.

Editors

Co-Editors
Sarah Travis and Laura Hetrick
Visual Arts Research
143 Art and Design
University of Illinois
Champaign, IL 61820
VAReditors@gmail.com

Editorial Board

Sahar Aghasafari, University of South Carolina, Lancaster
Ilayda Altuntas Nott, The University of Arizona
Angela Baldus, The University of British Columbia
Jasmine Begeske, Purdue University
Joy G. Bertling, University of Tennessee
Shivani Bhalla, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Paulina Camacho Valencia, University of Arkansas
Yichien Cooper, Washington State University
Kendall Crabbe, The University of Arizona
Kimberley D'Adamo, University of Nebraska
Stephanie Danker, Miami University
Richard Fletcher, The Ohio State University
Kelly Gross, Northern Illinois University
Min Gu, California State University, Long Beach
Christina Hanawalt, University of Georgia
Emiel Heijnen, Amsterdam University of the Arts
Catalina Hernández-Cabal, Virginia Tech University
Ann Holt, The Pennsylvania State University
Emily J. Hood, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Dana Carlisle Kletchka, The Ohio State University
Ahran Koo, California State University, Fresno
Hyunji Kwon, University of South Carolina
Nicole S. Lee, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design
Lillian L. Lewis, Virginia Commonwealth University
Christine Liao, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Luke Meeken, Miami University
David Modler, Shepherd University
Kaleb Ostraff, Brigham Young University
Hayon Park, George Mason University
Samuel H. Peck, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Allison Rowe, University of Iowa
Sara Scott Shields, Florida State University
Borim Song, East Carolina University
Lauren Stetz, University of the Arts
Jody Stokes-Casey, University of Kentucky
Juuso Tervo, Aalto University
Merel Visse, Drew University & University of Humanistic Studies
Amber Ward, Florida State University
gloria j. wilson, The Ohio State University
Kate Wurtzel, Appalachian State University
Li Xu, University of North Texas
Ahu Yolaç, Lawrence Technological University
Gigi Schroeder Yu, University of New Mexico

PDF Policy

PDFs are permitted and issued for the following:

Tenure dossier.
Special workshops the author is moderating.
Other requests to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
All PDFs will include a statement of copyright and a provision that the articles will not be photocopied, distributed, or used for purposes other than the terms agreed to by UIP.

Preprints are permitted for:

University repositories; UIP requires a publication statement to be posted along with the preprint.
Some journals have their own established policies and procedures for preprints. Please be sure to first check their respective Web sites before sending your request.

Postprints are permitted for:

Non-profit archives and repositories; Articles must be at least one year old. UIP requires a publication statement to be posted along with the postprint and a link back to the journal of publication's home page on the UIP website.
Personal and commercial Web sites; Articles must be at least three years old. UIP requires a publication statement to be posted along with the postprint and a link back to the journal of publication's home page on the UIP website.

Please contact the Intellectual Property Manager for more information.

Please send all requests to:

Angela Burton
Intellectual Property Manager
UIP-RIGHTS@uillinois.edu

Submissions

Visual Arts Research

Manuscripts of approximately 4,500 words should be submitted electronically to the Visual Arts Research online manuscript submission system. This secure, personalized resource will allow you to track your manuscript through each step of the review and acceptance process. To begin, click on the link below to set up your personal account and upload your submission. Your transmitted material will be reviewed as soon as possible.

READ BEFORE SUBMITTING: Submissions should follow the recommendations of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition, 2021. Accompanying tables, figures, images, or illustrations should appear at the end of each manuscript, and must be submitted in accordance with APA guidelines (click here to download).

This journal utilizes a double-blinded review process in which all manuscripts are blind reviewed by members of the Visual Arts Research Editorial Board. Figures, images, or illustrations accompanying final accepted manuscripts must be submitted as separate electronic files, properly labeled, formatted as TIFF documents, 300 dpi, and sized in height and width dimensions approximate to how the writer wishes these materials to appear in the journal. Only high quality images or figures will be accepted. Images appearing in accepted manuscripts must comply with U.S. copyright laws. Writers will be asked to obtain permission for VAR to publish copyrighted photographs, illustrations, or images. Visual Arts Research will provide blank permission forms to authors, which must be returned prior to final acceptance.

View our Publications Ethics and Malpractice Statement