The day before the applause, camera flashes and national press coverage, Trecartin and competition's other two finalists — Sanford Biggers and Michael Rakowitz — sat in on classes and critiques, visited student artists’ studios and shared ideas about their work at gallery talks, question-and-answer sessions and even a student-run pie social.

"The students got a chance to do something they don't normally get a chance to do — interact one-on-one with internationally known artists," said Gerard Brown, an assistant professor in Tyler's Foundation Program. "That was the benefit we didn't foresee: getting the artists into the student's court."

Yet that's precisely what Philadelphia developer and philanthropist Jack Wolgin hoped to accomplish when he created the competition with a $3.7 million donation to Tyler, the largest single gift the school has ever received. Along with all the other short and long-term benefits of the competition — the impact on Philadelphia's reputation as a major arts center, an economic boost from art tourism, rewarding excellence among emerging artists — Wolgin also expected that bringing world-class artists and their work to Tyler would support the school and its educational mission.

"I have always been a proponent of education," Wolgin told the Temple Times in December 2008. "By having the [competition and the exhibition] at Temple University's Tyler School of Art, the work of great artists will be seen by (and be an inspiration to) students and Philadelphia residents of all backgrounds."

Wolgin's vision started becoming a reality on Oct. 1 with the opening of the "Jack Wolgin Fine Arts Prize Finalists Exhibition" at Temple Gallery's new space in Tyler. About 2,000 visitors saw multi-media installations by Biggers, Rakowitz and Trecartin in the exhibition's first month, nearly twice as many visits as the Temple Gallery experienced in the entire 2008-09 academic year at its previous location in Old City, Philadelphia's gallery hub. In response to demand, the exhibition's run at Temple Gallery has been extended to Nov. 14 (open to the public Wednesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.).

Hundreds of students visited the show (including at least one large group of Philadelphia schoolchildren), and many made repeat visits and brought friends. At heavily-attended gallery talks, the artists maintained a tone of low-key approachability they had set during one-one-one studio visits with Master's of Fine Arts candidates.

"Being with the artists changed the whole experience of the Wolgin Competition to me," said Constanze Pirch, a second-year MFA candidate in painting from Austria who spent half an hour with Rakowitz in her painting studio. "I really enjoyed it. It was a reality check for me — a test to see if an artist whose work really speaks to me understands what I'm trying to say."

Robert T. Stroker, interim dean of Tyler and dean of the Boyer College of Music and Dance, was so pleased with the student-artist interactions he observed that he hopes to expand opportunities when the 2010 competition brings the next group of finalists to campus.

"I heard students asking the artists a lot of questions about art as a profession and what it takes to get that level of achievement: the dedication, the tenacity, the work ethic," Stroker said. "For students to hear it from our faculty or their parents is one thing, but to hear it from an artist like Sanford Biggers, Michael Rakowitz or Ryan Trecartin — someone they may aspire to be — that's priceless."