In her latest series at Blue Rain Santa Fe, artist Erin Currier’s subjects have touched the divine—and inspired the lives of others.
Erin Currier: From the Mediterranean to New Mexico: Motorcyclists, Mystics, and Milongueras
June 26–July 9, 2026
Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe
Erin Currier’s latest series, From the Mediterranean to New Mexico: Motorcyclists, Mystics, and Milongueras, features an intriguing cast of characters—artists, travelers, bikers, dancers, saints, and autonomous thinkers—whose humility and dedication to their work embody a quiet spirituality and a sense of awe and reverence for life despite, or perhaps because of, the challenges they endure and overcome.
“One quality that particularly interests me is ‘immanence versus transcendence,’ the idea of encountering God, the gods, the Creator, the Divine within oneself,” Currier says. “This contrasts with the ‘without,’ as manifested by institutional religious authority imposed by the church whereby God and the sacred are only available through intermediaries. In my series, my subjects have touched the divine through honoring their own individual passions and humble paths, and, in so doing, have touched and inspired the lives of others as well.”
One such subject is Pamela Colman Smith, a prolific British illustrator, writer, publisher, and occultist who is best known for illustrating the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, which remains the most widely used deck in the world since its introduction in 1909. Her struggles to overcome challenges in her life—poverty and sexism among them—are depicted lovingly in Currier’s portrait, which features Smith wearing an enigmatic smile while being encircled by a rainbow-like arc of tarot cards. Currier collaged discarded ephemera from her travels to create Smith’s clothing, adding texture and symbolism to the portrait to underscore her humility and her determination to pursue her many talents.
Another subject is Sara-la-Kali, also known as Saint Sarah, the patron saint of the Romani people in folk Catholicism who embodies multiple identities: Christian theologians call her “Black Sarah” and believe her to have been an Egyptian handmaiden to Mary Magdalene; others believe her to be the secret daughter of Jesus; and many religious historians consider her a manifestation of the Hindu goddess Kali. Currier highlights her divine nature despite her status as an “unofficial” saint by imbuing her with an aura of serenity and peace and blending Hindu-style garments with a Western sensibility to honor her unique origins.
When speaking of her subjects, Currier notes, “Their art—that is, their honoring of and connection to the Creator—is one and the same with their lives, and is a transformative force celebrated in these works.”
Join the gallery for the artist’s reception on June 26, 5-7 pm, at Blue Rain Santa Fe. The show runs through July 9, 2026.
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