Vallejo Vignettes — Three high schoolers win Inspire Vallejo billboard competition

This is a special edition of the Vallejo Vignettes, featuring the three young artists who won the billboard design competition Inspire Vallejo and shared what in this city makes them feel happy and hopeful. Don't forget to submit your best Vallejo stories to vallejovignettes@vallejosun.com.

VALLEJO – The first edition of Inspire Vallejo, a billboard design competition open to Vallejo and Benicia students aged 16-24, celebrated its award ceremony on Oct. 26. Three high schoolers from St. Patrick St. Vincent Catholic High School took the first three prizes, valued at $18,000.

The winning design, by Alyssa Chopito, will be featured on a digital billboard at the Solano County Fairgrounds. All three finalists will have their art featured in T-shirts available for sale online, and will appear at the July 4 parade.

Miles McNeal & Powell LLC, a social enterprise and community impact interests firm that addresses socioeconomic disparities, served as the main sponsor of this competition, while Vallejo.City was the main organizer. Thirty-four young artists submitted designs, which among other criteria, had to be Vallejo-centric and showcase originality and design readability. 

The event was hosted by  R. Shay Miles, chairwoman of Miles McNeal & Powell LLC and a 2023 graduate of Leadership Vallejo Academy, and one of the speakers was Shaun Tai, the thought leader behind Inspire Oakland, the model for Inspire Vallejo. Among the judges were Benicia’s mayor Steve Young, Solano County Supervisor-Elect Cassandra Jones, Miss Vallejo Sydney Allen, and several community activists and artists. 

The next edition of Inspire Vallejo will be open to students in all of Solano County.

Below are the three designs that took first, second, and third prize and the artists’ explanation of why and how they produced their art.

First Prize: Alyssa Chopito — Vallejo Family Days

For my Inspire Vallejo Project, I decided to draw the Carquinez bridge. I was born and have lived in Vallejo my entire life. What inspired me to draw the Carquinez bridge was that my first home with my family had the view of the Carquinez bridge. As a young child, I always thought that it was a beautiful sight. My family and I often drive through the Carquinez bridge to visit family and spend days together in San Francisco. 

I chose the colors blue and orange for my background and for the word “Vallejo” because these two colors are complementary. I made the sky dark blue and the water a lighter shade of blue to represent the feeling of calmness and tranquility I feel when looking out the window while driving through the Carquinez bridge. I also added the rocks and mountains in my art piece because it is also part of the view. The word “Vallejo” in orange, which is the complementary color of blue, makes it stand out and catches people’s eye since “Vallejo” is the theme of my project.

I drew the bridges in point perspective because it focuses on welcoming you into Vallejo. The bridges lean into the entrance of Vallejo. The sun is in the center of the bridge, along with the word “Inspire” in yellow, which represents the positive energy and happiness Vallejo brings to me. 

The bridge not only connects my family and I, but also connects and welcomes people outside of the city to be part of the Vallejo community. I hope this drawing inspires people to visit and see the beautiful culture and welcoming community that Vallejo has to offer. 

Second prize: Francesca “Frankie” Maionchi —Vallejo is Beautiful

My project is called “Vallejo is Beautiful,” and it was inspired by the “Welcome to Vallejo” sign and Vallejo’s sunsets on the waterfront and marshlands. 

Whenever I’m on I-80 on my way home from school, I always love looking out the window and seeing the sunsets near Highway 37. So my sunset is inspired by the endless amount of pictures of sunsets I have taken while on I-80.

I chose the colors green and white for my background and for “Inspire Vallejo” to resemble a “Welcome to Vallejo” sign and because the two colors contrast well. The sunset is colored orange and yellow and the water is colored blue because the orange represents youthful connections, yellow represents happiness, and blue represents calmness. These colors represent how I feel about Vallejo’s sunsets.

I also drew the words “Inspire Vallejo” myself. I did this because I wanted my artwork to be original and unique. The words are 3D which pops out and catches people’s attention.

I wanted to show that Vallejo is beautiful, not just because of its pretty sunsets, but also because it's welcoming to all.

Third prize: Joseph “Jojo” Silva — Family, Fun, Familiar, Town, Growth

For my project, I drew the word Vallejo in red because the main high school in Vallejo is Vallejo High School and their colors are red. In the top right are two rappers I basically grew up with, Mac Dre and E-40. E-40 is still very big and he has done many things for Vallejo and for this community, so many that he has a street named after him. And Mac Dre was from Vallejo and raps about where he’s from. 

Right behind them is the Bay Bridge. In the top left, there’s a Vallejo sign. If you drive around Vallejo you’ll notice that most signs have graffiti or some type of art in them, so I wanted to add my kind of art in it. I kind of broke it down a little bit, so it looks a little rusty and old. 

At the bottom there are three cars, drifting. In Vallejo we have been having a lot of sideshows, and bad things have come out from them, but at the end of the day it’s bringing the community together. 

The reason I added the word “loser” to the Vallejo city sign is because most people think the community is really bad in Vallejo, they think we are losing our life. I painted “loser” and I crossed it out because we are not really losing our life. We are building a community as strong as we possibly can, even if it’s day by day. Everything helps. 

Most of all I did this drawing to show that I’ve seen Vallejo come from basically nothing to really something, and so have my parents, especially my dad. My dad has lived here all his life, he was born here, and my dad has been through lots of things in Vallejo. He helped this community and a lot of people, so this drawing is not only for me and the community but also for my family, to show how much they love Vallejo. 

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct Francesca Maionchi's name and the date of the event.