Melanie Taylor Kent was raised in Los Angeles, attending public schools for most of her youth. She took advantage of any opportunities to study and practice her art and won her first National Art Competition at the young age of twelve. She later studied at the UCLA School of Art.

Kent has been painting professionally for decades and her fame is well-deserved. Her work is often seen as a historical chronicle of the 1980s and 1990s, based on her tendency to depict famous streets and events in modern American life, including history moments such as the fiftieth anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge and the pop culture like Star Wars and E. T. The Extraterrestrial.