TEAM
Our production team remains passionate about this story, working closely as a creative community. We have completed exhaustive research, while shooting over 35 hours of interviews so far to produce an authentic story about an inspired woman, and the extraordinary people whom she influenced.
Mark Gordon, Director/Writer
Awakening In Taos is a labor of love for Director/Writer Mark Gordon. He fell in love with the Mabel Dodge Luhan story years ago when he read Edge of Taos Desert and realized that bringing this story to a wide audience through PBS was his personal calling. Since then he has dedicated himself to doing everything possible to successfully complete this production. Mark has been passionate about filmmaking since childhood. His uncle Phillip Krasne produced The Cisco Kid movies and television series O’Henry Playhouse for CBS, and numerous films and TV shows.
Mark Gordon is a fine artist, graphic designer, photographer, web developer, and independent filmmaker.
Michael Kamins, Executive Producer
Dodging lightning bolts at Pueblo Alto, camping in John Nichols’s living room, animating the micro-second fusion reaction that makes H-bombs go boom, Michael Kamins has made over 50 documentaries for Public Broadcasting. His work is distributed nationally and internationally. He currently is the Executive Producer at New Mexico PBS. Over the years Michael has worked as a producer, director, writer, director of photography, editor, and educator. He has received widespread recognition for his work, which includes an Emmy nomination, regional Emmys, a showing at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and the jury prize at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival. Michael Kamins was the Executive Producer of Painting Taos, a documentary about the Taos Society of Artists released in 2009.
Kathleen Peters, Producer
Katie Peters is a writer, director, video producer and editor and a certified art teacher. She is the owner of MuseMedia, a video post-production facility, and creative director and partner in HDSolutions, a high definition production and post-production suite.
Ms. Peters is a member of the New Mexico Governor’s Council for Film and Media, the board of Santa Fe Film Festival, the advisory board of the Coalition for Quality Children’s Media, and the Board of Trustees of the College of Santa Fe.
Tom McCarthy, Producer
Tom McCarthy has been a producer of documentaries for over 25 years. He recently retired from the Museum of New Mexico after establishing the museum’s first video department. He was responsible for the production and direction of original programming for museum exhibits and broadcasts. Video programs on exhibit at the Museum of International Folk Art include: a videodisc in the Hispanic Heritage Wing, Nine Hispanic Artists, and videotape Turkish Traditional Art Today. At the Heard Museum in Arizona, seven videos accompany the Behind the Mask In Mexico exhibit.
Tom McCarthy’s company produced Navajo Code Talkers, an award-winner at the Aspen Film Fest; Los Alamos: The Beginning, for the museum at Los Alamos National Lab; and two award winning films for the United States Information Agency.
Jill Drinkwater, Producer
Jill Drinkwater has been passionate about the Mabel Dodge Luhan story for over 20 years and has held the guiding vision for Awakening In Taos for over six years. She is committed to seeing this story reach women everywhere as an example of how one woman can make a difference and find her own voice. Jill is the strongest advocate for this project and a shinning star in our community of filmmakers.
Jill Drinkwater was born in Connecticut as part of an old New England family whose name has become synonymous with the investment world, Putnam. She graduated from Russell Sage College in Troy, NY in 1973 and attended graduate school at SUNY Binghamton in New York. In 1975, she moved west and started as an investment advisor with EF Hutton in 1977.
Over her three decades in the investment business, she has developed a holistic approach toward working with clients as a way of empowering them. She currently lives in Santa Fe, NM with her son, Jason.
Pat Hall, Producer
Peggy T. (Pat) Hall, is past member and secretary of the board of trustees of the College of Santa Fe. She has served six years as board secretary for the MNMF and also chaired FOCA. She and her business partner Katie Peters have a high definition video & editing company called HD Solutions, which is located on the Santa Fe Plaza. At SITE Santa Fe, she was chairman of the Director’s Circle in 1996 and 1997. She served as secretary of the board of trustees of the New Mexico School for the Deaf from June 1994 to 1998. Previously, she worked as curator of exhibitions for the UJA/Federation Art Gallery in New York. She was a partner in the Berland/Hall Gallery and the Oscarsson Siegeltuch Gallery, and the director of the Katherine Markel Gallery, all in New York. She has served on the board of the Lexington School for the Deaf since 1970, and is an honorary board member. She has lived in London, New York and New Jersey and moved to Santa Fe in 1993. Pat, a member of the Legacy Society, joined the Museum of New Mexico Foundation board in 2000.
Bruce H. Begin, Senior Development Consultant
Since 1988 through the present Bruce has provided consulting services in strategic and financial planning, fund raising, governance, marketing, communications and public relations for schools colleges and other non-profits. He has extensive and successful experience in planning and management of capital campaigns ($1,000,000 to $100,000,000) and organizing and implementing alumni/ae five-year reunion programs. Principles of TQM (Total Quality Management), including teamwork, continuous improvement and meeting and exceeding expectations of the targeted audience are fundamental to his approach.
Bob Willis, Director of Photography
Bob has 20 years experience in film, video and HD digital production for documentaries, commercials, corporate and other broadcast and cable programming. Early in his career Bob gained experience in photography and lighting, working for some of today’s finest cinematographers from on both coasts as well as in the Southwest. Bob has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography and Graphic Design. He brings a passion and knowledge for the arts, photography and documentary filmmaking to all of his work.
As an independent filmmaker and freelance cinematographer Bob has worked on a variety of documentaries. Recent work includes clients such as the Public Broadcasting Station (PBS), Discovery, National Geographic, and The History Museum of New Mexico. A PBS documentary about the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta on which Bob was a photographer, won a 2010 Rocky Mountain Emmy for Photography.
Carole Baker, Social Media Director
Carole Baker has worked in the Marketing & Advertising arena for 15+ years. As an innovator in the field, Carole has embraced social media as a powerful marketing tool since its inception, founding the fastest growing digital / social media networking group in the Midwest – NewMediaDayton.com. She is ranked 7th most influential person on social media in the Santa Fe, New Mexico and played an integral part in the #HowToSantaFe Instagram project which resulted in 4 million impressions in a two-week span. In addition to her work for Awakening In Taos, Carole manages social media for a variety of national clients including FunctionalFormularie
Cindra Kline, Senior Editor/Writer
Cindra Kline received the Southwest Book Award for Navajo Spoons: Indian Artistry and the Souvenir Trade 1880s – 1940s (Museum of NM Press). Her extensive advertising and journalism background includes Young & Rubicam NY and BBDO (Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn), as well as regional reporting and articles in national publications: American Indian Art, New Mexico Magazine, Rocky Mountain Spirit, The Denver Post and El Palacio among them. As a former research associate at the School for Advanced Research (SAR) in Santa Fe, she is delighted to bring both her writing and editing skills to this project.
Kathryn M Davis, Art Historian
Kathryn M Davis, art historian, writer/editor, educator and curator, specializes in modern and contemporary American art and critical theory. Based in New Mexico, she is a contributing writer for THE magazine; prior to that she was the editor of Trend magazine and arts editor for Santa Fean magazine. Davis also writes for various national publications. She has taught art history classes at Santa Fe University of Art and Design, and led art and culture tours for groups including CEO, the Newark Museum, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. She currently hosts a radio show about art on KVSF, 101.5 fm. Ms. Davis received an MA in the Art of the Americas from the University of New Mexico in 1998.
Jennifer Schiffmacher, Grant Writer/Fundraising Strategist/Editor
Jennifer Schiffmacher has over 20 years’ experience in policy and program development, advocacy and grant writing. In combination with her critical thinking skills and knowledge of current research trends, she creates opportunities for systemic change in education, health care delivery, and behavioral health systems. To date she has garnered approximately $12 million in grants. An adept communicator, she is skilled at establishing long-term relationships with key leaders in a variety of settings. Her experience as a strategic planner moves organizations in new directions while honoring their mission and past accomplishments.