A Pivot Towards Financial Autonomy: Helen Maurene Cooper of Vanity Tintype

Aug 16

Aug 16 A Pivot Towards Financial Autonomy: Helen Maurene Cooper of Vanity Tintype

Podcast, Interview, Artists, Money, perceived value, Visual Arts, podcast for artists, Philadelphia, Tintype, Photography, art

Season 05 of Perceived Value is all about transitions and begins with host Sarah Rachel Brown in conversation with artist and photographer Helen Maurene Cooper. Sarah and Cooper connected at a time when both women were (and still are) navigating transitions in their professional lives and working towards financial autonomy.

The two Philadelphia-based artists sat down in Cooper’s 19th century inspired Fishtown Studio to discuss her experience formalizing her commercial and commissioned work under the name Vanity Tintype to begin her own business. Their conversation delves into understanding the value of one’s time and properly charging for it, what exactly a tintype is, the pleasure of being a choosy business owner, and Cooper fills Sarah in on what a blue chip artist is.

Helen Maurene Cooper (born in Philadelphia, PA where she now resides) uses wet-plate photography as a key component in participatory art practice of placemaking, and world-building, looking to the politics of family and intimacy. Cooper earned an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA from Bard College. She has exhibited at numerous venues; Onomatopee (Eindhoven, Netherlands), Clare Morris Gallery ( Ireland), Soap Factory (Minneapolis), Space Mountain (Miami), and Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation (Chicago). Awards and Fellowships include; Art is Essential Grant, through the Knight Foundation (2020 and 2021), the Cultural Council of Eindhoven, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and the University of Chicago. Her work was reviewed in Bust.com, New City, Nails Magazine, and the Creators Vice Magazine. Artists' talks have been given at PS1, The Fashion Institute of Technology, Kansas City Art Institute, Elmhurst Art Museum, The Arts Incubator at the University of Chicago, and Oxbow School of Painting.

In a pandemic pivot of 2021, she formalized her commercial and commissioned work under the name Vanity Tintype.

Cooper offers a range of tintype packages (from 4x5 to 8x10) in her 19th century inspired Fishtown Studio. Clients are photographed using strobe lighting (which makes exposure time less than one second) and choose to be photographed against a clean minimal backdrop or in the setting of a Victorian parlor with a contemporary twist.

In her commissioned work, she strives to make each portrait sitting a memorable custom event. The artifacts of the session result in high-quality one- of- a kind images.