I don't know if I understand the question exactly but here's what I think anyway.
 
I can't imagine having a full time occupation that didn't spill over into my life.  You'd have to be a real expert at compartmentalization.  Or conversely to perform an occupation and not have your life affect it.
There may be some jobs or careers that you could separate out but would you want to?
I've always thought of work as being art anyway.  You put your mark on any kind of work you do, you bring yourself to it whether you're a nurse or a teacher or a spot welder on the GM line.  You make the work and the work makes you. 
Is this what you mean?
Not letting one portion overwhelm the other is tricky.  Engineers shouldn't make their kids inventory their toys every night and it's a bad idea to treat your co-workers like your children (or your spouse).

As for living like an artist, the art of living is work.  I don't like the way that sounds but I can't think of another way to put it.  It's all one thing and achieving a happy relation between the two aspects is the real art and I imagine there's a continuum for that; sometimes work and life come together in detente and sometimes not so much.

I think there is a need to compartmentalize.  I know of a fellow who was doing psychology honours but pulled out of the program because he could not leave his work at the office.  I've met teachers who are tyrants in the home, as much as in the classroom.  Someone mentioned the word 'balance'.  I guess that is it.  Too much obsession with one's career leads to imbalance and problems in the home, a sense of neglect in the family and so on and so forth. 

Having said that, one's career does tend to define one's life and I suppose that is not entirely avoidable.  Is that on topic?