The emerging three-dimensional (3D) virtual world (VW) technology offers great potential for teaching contemporary digital art and growing digital visual culture in 21st-century art education. Such online virtual worlds are built and conceptualized based on information visualization and visual metaphors. Recently, an increasing number of researchers have investigated the educational potential and applications of 3D VWs such as Second Life (SL) that target not only adult learners but also children and teens. Many school districts, colleges, and universities are building virtual classrooms and campuses; they offer courses and events for student learning and teacher professional development. Because of this pervasive phenomenon, Gartner Group (2007) predicts that 80% of active online users by 2011 will have a "Second Life" in the form of virtual worlds. Art teachers and educators of the digital age cannot ignore this new "virtual" trend and overlook the educational potential of such 3D virtual learning environments (VLE). In this article, the author shares her research and examples of the value and uses of building 3D virtual learning environments to enrich creative learning approaches for college students. She addresses the potential benefits of applying a 3D VLE in an educational setting, and explains how it can enhance and enrich teaching and learning for art education. She identifies some useful design principles for creating a VLE and developing a virtual pedagogy. She uses her research grant project, "Art Cafe @ Second Life," as an example of what a VLE looks like and how it is implemented in her teaching practice. At the end, she addresses her reflections and challenges, and offers suggestions for future practice. (Contains 2 figures and 3 endnotes.)