This research study, based on in-depth interviews, reveals the ways in which a select group of art education students and K-12 public school art teachers make meaning of their professional aspirations and career identity. This article focuses on the part of the study that examines the gender issues that were revealed during the interviews. It is impossible to understand the shift from art student to art education student to art teacher without examining the gender issues that contribute to K-12 art teachers being predominantly female and professional artists being primarily male. (Contains 1 endnote.)