112222 - Ojo Caliente, NM

Ball clay, kaolin, minspar 200, silica, darvan, nepheline syenite, frit 3124, wollastonite,collected rocks and minerals.

During a solo trip to Colorado, I spent a few days traveling through Northern New Mexico, stopping in small towns: two days in Madrid, a day trip in Ojo Caliente, and a night in Tao’s before I drove north to Colorado Springs. My professor told me about the Mica Mine in Ojo Caliente and I remember the excitement she had when telling me about how much of it you could see on the ground as you walked closer to the mine. I arrived at the trailhead early that morning because I wanted to make it to Tao’s before sundown. The walk was isolat-ing, but in a rejuvinating way. I had no prior knowledge of how mica formed naturally, all I had been exposed to was the material premixed in micaceous clay bodies and I knew it was a material you could by as an additive. That moment of arriving to the mine and seeing the fl ecks of mica broken up so finely felt like walking through mounds of glitter. It truly felt like I was walking on another planet, surrounded by thousands of sparkling specimens.