Art education students who become art teachers are, for the most part, educated first as artists and second as art educators. Given this dual education, there is some evidence to suggest that they may experience contradictions in their career development that seriously impact the construction of their professional role and identity as artists and art teachers. This case 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 paper focuses on the part of the study that examines to what extent art teachers believe that they must engage in creative production in order to teach others to do so. (Contains 3 footnotes.)