Hello! I'm called Melvin. I do several things! I'm an independent artist and social media manager.

My actual day job is Senior VP of Marketing and Social Media for GG Equine.

As for creative pursuits, I work in acrylic paint, ceramics, charcoal, collage, pencil, digital art, and photography. I had a pair of paintings in Durham's “DollyWeird” art show extravaganza at PS37 (Sept 2023). My painting “bird work” featured in the Pop Box-curated community show “we [don't] care” (May 2023).

You can find my latest pieces by following the #artmelvin tag on Instagram and see what I have for sale at Redbubble and Society 6!

I've done three album covers for independent local musicians, including two benefit albums in 2020: one for Durham's Accordion Club and one for One Fair Wage. The latter was originally released by Paper + Plastick.

In a former life, I was an academic. My contribution to human knowledge, "Cosmopolitan Friendship in James Boswell’s 'Journal of a Tour to Corsica,'" can be found in "1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era" (vol 20, October 2013).

📧: melvinpena at gmail

(photo by Allie Mullin Photography)