Bascom Palmer Eye Institute will host “Angiogenesis, Exudation and Degeneration 2011” on Saturday, February 12 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Miami. Angiogenesis 2011 follows the tradition of excellence established by the widely acclaimed Angiogenesis programs between 2004 and 2010. Designed for retinal specialists, general ophthalmologists, and researchers, the current program will review the latest therapies for exudative eye diseases and the use of these new treatments in clinical practice. The meeting will emphasize current and future treatments for a broad spectrum of retinal diseases with special emphasis on age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. For more information or to register, contact Karen Davila at [email protected] or 305-326-6110.

Images of life and daily activities in Haitian communities will be the focus of a special exhibition in February at the University of Miami’s Wynwood Project Space.

Presented by UM’s Department of Art and Art History, “Haiti FotoKonbit: Third Vernacular Photography” will feature photographs taken by Haitians in their home country and Miami.

The exhibition runs from February 8-25 at Wynwood Project Space, 2200A NW 2nd Avenue, Miami, with an opening reception on Saturday, February 12 from 6 to 10 p.m.

FotoKonbit is a movement created to engage and empower Haitians to tell their own stories and document their communities through photography.

Inspired by the Creole word “konbit,” which can be defined as the coming together of similar talents in an effort toward a common goal, FotoKonbit educators use their skills as photographers, educators, and artists to impact the lives of their participants and the public through photography. By partnering with established Haitian grassroots organizations in Haiti and in the Haitian Diaspora, FotoKonbit is uniquely positioned to inspire hope through creative expression and provide Haitians with the opportunity to document their reality and share it with the largest possible audience.

A full schedule of exhibitions can be viewed at www.as.miami.edu/art. For more information about the exhibition or Wynwood Project Space, call 305-284-2543 or e-mail [email protected].

Robin Holder's "Descending Into the Valley of the Kings"

The Department of Art and Art History and Africana Studies will present “Atum Energy: Channeling Kemetic Metaphysics,” an art exhibition celebrating Black History Month.

The show, curated by international art curator Ludlow Bailey, will run from February 1 to 28 at UM’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Gallery, 1210 Stanford Drive, Coral Gables campus. The exhibition is free and open to the public. A special opening reception will be held on Friday, February 11, from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

The exhibition will feature the works of African-American artists Robin Holder and Kerry Stuart Coppin, Haitian-American artists Asser Saint-Val and Nzingah, Jamaican-American artist Kristie Stephenson, and black British artist Everton Wright.

Bailey has curated shows in Europe, the Caribbean, and the United States. He has lived in Egypt and travelled extensively in Africa. A lifelong student of Egyptology and metaphysics, he holds degrees from both Brown and Columbia Universities. Bailey currently resides on St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands.

Rafael Soriano

Rafael Soriano: Other Worlds Within, a Sixty-Year Retrospective will be on view at the University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum from January 29 through March 27, 2011. A preview lecture and reception will be held on January 28, 2011 from 7 to 10 p.m. The lecture will be given by Alejandro Anreus.

Born in Cuba, Soriano is one of the major Latin American artists of his generation. Soriano broke with regional and folkloric themes that once dominated Cuban art in the mid-1920s. He first mastered geometric abstraction as a style in the 1950s, but by the late 1960s had defined his signature approach to painting. His work embodies a style best described as “Oneiric Luminism,” combining a purely abstract form of light, form space, and shadow with an interest in poetic and metaphysical impulses.

Read the full story