We send Predator drones and CIA hitmen, they send artists in return. Thats one way of looking at Pakistani expat artist Humaira Abid, who recently settled in Seattle. Her new exhibit of carved wood sculptures and paintings, Red, uses that color to explore fertility and feminist themes in a homeland where such inquiry isnt always welcome. Like much of the Islamic world, Pakistans birth rate is rising dramatically, and Abid uses red baby pacifiers as a totem of procreation and maternity. Children are beloved, yet these babies are being born into a world of stifling autocracyas we see in the current rebellions among the Arab states. In one delicately carved work, pacifiers underlie and support the reading stand for a Koran. The books not there, but thousands of future disciples are born each day in Pakistan and beyond. Note April 16 lecture at noon. BRIAN MILLER
Thu., March 3, 5-8 p.m.; Tuesdays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Sat., April 16, 12-3 p.m. Starts: March 3. Continues through April 30, 2011
