Jennifer Lugris,
When Life Hands You Lemons, 2023
oil and acrylic on canvas
36 x 36 inches
$5,000
C-lective Curator’s Cut:
When Life Gives You Lemons captures an intimate, zoomed-in moment of a child breastfeeding, transforming a quiet, everyday act into a vibrant celebration of care, perseverance, and the improvisations of life. Rooted in Lugris’s exploration of joy and gratitude amid generational sacrifice, migration, and the complexities of a mixed-race, multi-faith family, the work reflects the artist’s philosophy that even when life delivers unexpected challenges, we find ways to make the best of them. Radiant, saturated colors infuse the scene with energy and warmth, turning a simple maternal moment into a luminous testament to love, adaptability, and the small yet profound victories of motherhood.
Jennifer Lugris
We Love Jennifer. She is a Sacramento-based artist who creates bright, joyful works of art as a way to honor her complex heritage and to celebrate the beauty of everyday life. With a family history marked by both tragedy and triumph, she is deeply attuned to life’s fragility and responds by painting her daily experiences as vibrant, patterned scenes filled with gratitude and presence.
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Bachelors Degree in French from Rutgers University
Post‑Baccalaureate Certificate in Visual Arts from UC Berkeley Extension
Masters of Fine Art in Painting, University of California, Santa Barbara
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National Endowment for the Arts Grant Recipient
Funded by the California Arts Council
Honored with the Linda A. Day Endowed Student Award during her MFA
Her works are included in key collections at Meta (Facebook), UC Davis Health, and the Art, Design & Architecture Museum in Santa Barbara
Completed a significant 40 × 9 ft mural installation with Meta Open Arts in San Francisco (2021)
Serves as Chair of the Art Department at Sierra College in Rocklin, CA
“My paintings honor my refugee grandparents and parents who risked everything to offer future generations better opportunities.”
Her multi-paneled works reflect the layered nature of her identity, refusing to confine her story to a single frame. As a culturally mixed Uruguayan, Korean, Spanish American who was raised Catholic and is now raising Jewish children, Lugris embraces multiplicity as both a personal truth and artistic framework.
Having grown up fielding curious questions about her background, she recreates that experience for viewers—inviting them to piece together meaning from richly detailed, interconnected elements, just as she has done throughout her life.
Click here to see Jennifer’s most recent C-lective interview.