Two new art exhibitions, "Josiah Wedgwood: Experimental Potter" and "Art and Healing: Selections from the Grokoest Collection," will open at the Emerson Gallery on Monday, Jan. 15. The exhibitions are free and open to the general public.

"Josiah Wedgwood: Experimental Potter," which will be on view at the Emerson Gallery from Jan. 15 to Feb. 26, is a collection of approximately 60 examples of the wares produced from the 18th to the 20th century by the famous English potter, Josiah Wedgwood.

Wedgwood radically changed the pottery industry in England during the 18th century. His pursuit of technical perfection resulted in the development of various types of ware that imitated other materials, methods and styles. For example, Wedgwood's development of the well-known jasper ware is considered the most significant technical invention in pottery in over a thousand years.

Featured in this exhibit are various significant pieces which highlight Wedgwood's remarkable techniques, along with important examples of many of the types of ware he produced. This sampling is part of a collection of over 200 pieces assembled by Dr. Louise Lowe, who generously donated the collection in 1974 to The Art Museum of SUNY Binghamton in memory of her husband, Dr. Ellsworth Lowe. The exhibition will travel to 12 American museums over the next three years with the assistance of Smith Kramer, Inc., a fine arts services company located in Kansas City, Mo.

"Art and Healing: Selections from the Grokoest Collection," which will be on view Jan. 15 to April 7, is an exhibit of works by Rothko, Schiele, Maurer and other modern masters from the collection of the late Dr. Albert Grokoest (Hamilton Class of 1940).

Grokoest, a distinguished rheumatologist at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, had a deep belief in the connection between a patient's mind and body. As he matured as a doctor and as a lover of the arts, Grokoest discovered the work of certain fine artists that offered a clear picture of phenomena he observed, but could verbalize.

At a charity art auction in 1959, Grokoest discovered a portrait by Egon Schiele that depicted the helpless, hopeless isolated state of a diseased person. The portrait became the first in his collection of works that reflected his ideas about holistic medicine.