This research project outlines the role of art education as a part of the professional identity of people working in different fields of art and education and explains the relationship between the productive and receptive dimensions of art education. Also, the project presents a theory on the relation between visual and verbal conceptualization. The main goal of art education is seen as the development of the learner's personal and cultural identity. The project uses an experiential-constructivist model of art learning that evolved in the wide context of visual culture. The project consists of case studies and interviews that explore the elements of identity formation. First, the project approaches the cultural and social identity of kindergarten through university students through the concept of multiculturalism and assesses the role of social background, nationality, ethnicity, gender, and different groups in producing and interpreting images. The second part focuses on the construction of an art educator's professional identity. The third dimension investigates classroom interaction from the point of view of visual conceptualization. Finnish art works from the 1980s-90s are used for assessment. (Contains 25 references.) (BT)