Based on research examining the art education syllabus in nursery schools of Lyon, this article looks at the way which this specific context influences the development of the artistic work, beyond the exclusively technical and creative aspects. This ethnographic research, which charts the movements in the artist’s projects, provides specific data enabling us to redefine the artistic work. The analysis of professional identities and the multiple skills they draw upon reveals the stakes involved in the tension between the artistic work, pedagogy and the project itself. This leads us to inquire into the implications of being “an artist in nursery schools” and into the place of art in the learning process. The research also highlights the doubts, changes, and the blurring of boundaries which characterize everyday work, and more generally, the relationship to artistic work itself.