Ann Cooper (1946-2003) was born and raised in Greenwich Village. She attended City College and studied art at the Art Students League and Parsons School of Design. After several years in Connecticut, she returned to New York to live and paint in Soho. For years she was an active member of Lower Manhattan Loft Tenants, working tirelessly to ensure that artists could continue to live and work in their studios throughout downtown Manhattan.

Cooper had a full career with exhibitions throughout New England. Her Fellowships included MacDowell, the Ragdale Foundation, Blue Mountain, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the Krasner-Pollock Foundation. In 2004, First Street Gallery in New York City opened a memorial exhibition of Cooper’s work, showing the 25 self-portraits she painted each year from 1978 to 2003, the year of her death.