Born in Cuba in 1947, Janis Portal grew up amidst a changing climate in Cuba where people were growing increasingly dissatisfied with the government in power. As she entered adolescence, she became aware that the country was moving towards a political revolution. In 1960, while on vacation in Mexico, her mother and father decided that the family would move to the United States. This entailed a precipitous separation from her friends and family in Cuba. After brief stints of time in Miami and Vero Beach, her family moved to central Florida, where life presented a complete contrast to her experiences in Cuba. Raised to be open-minded and accepting of other cultures, she encountered a very close-minded community in her new homeland, and began to feel severely isolated. She made a decision to attend Florida State University, which provided a more open-minded environment and also allowed her the freedom to explore various ways to be fully alive. Despite the fact that she felt a strong affinity to artistic expression from age of 14, she also felt a strong connection with children and decided to become a teacher. Always seeking a more feeling based environment than she did not find in Florida, Janis moved to San Francisco. She obtained a teaching degree through the University of California at Berkeley and much later also achieved a Masters Degree in Psychology from Sonoma State University. As a teacher she taught mostly Spanish bilingual curriculum at the elementary and middle school levels. She remained at the San Francisco Unified School District as a full time teacher for twenty- eight and half years. The story behind her development as an artist can be boiled down to her deep conviction that art has healing properties through the expression of genuine feeling. Chronology In most respects, I am a self-taught artist. My experience with art began in high school where, on my own, I used charcoal to draw portraits for friends. This culminated in a charcoal self-portrait at age 33. The artwork with oil pastels began at age 39 and has been the only medium I work with two exceptions: In 1981, I took a class, "Imagination in Water Color", at Sonoma State University, while preparing for a master of arts degree program in psychology. In 1997, while on sabbatical from teaching, I took two acrylic classes and one class in oil pastels at City College of San Francisco. The following were rewarding experiences in seeking to expand visibility of my artwork: I received two Merit Awards at San Francisco Women Artists on Sacramento St. for drawings, "Purple Flowers" and "Space". I was a member from 2006-08. During the duration of the current series beginning with "To All the Women Who Didn't Want Me", April 2008 to January 2009, which ends with "Orange is the color of her hair", half of these drawings have been included in the Congregation Sha'ar Zahav's Weekly Update email. For many years, I avoided looking at other people's art as I developed my own style, and for fear of falling under their spell, that is, being imitative. I am more apt to look now because I can be more discriminating about who I am and who the other is, especially in terms of my imaginative capacity and abilities, flexibility with color and a sense of patience that forms the foundation for the art process itself.