For Love | Hazel Belvo

Hazel Belvo: For Love is a career retrospective that honors Belvo’s lifelong work and dedication as an artist through a focus on her deep relationships, her strong sense of place, and her feminist worldview. Belvo is a significant American artist, art educator, and feminist leader. From delicate drawings to monumental paintings, Belvo’s work honors intimate moments of love and connection, as well as nature and spirituality. Born in Ohio, Belvo worked in New York and on the east coast before coming to Minnesota, where she has now lived, taught, worked, and loved for many years.

This retrospective celebrates love and as an underlying force in Belvo’s artistic career of more than seventy years. By examining her work, audiences gain insight into the broader struggles of women artists as they build careers while caring for others, working for others, and endeavoring to make change in the world. Belvo’s artwork thrives because it is inextricably tied to her extraordinary, multidimensional life.

This exhibition brings together beautiful artwork from across the artist’s long career—from early abstractions made while living in New York in the 1960s to intimate sketches she drew of her son Briand the morning he was born. Belvo’s important Love Drawings, made while her son Joe struggled with a tragic illness, are a centerpiece.

Open House:

November 4, 2023 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

On Saturday, November 4, 2023, come to the M for a special opportunity to celebrate the opening of Hazel Belvo: For Love on view in the Nancy and John Lindahl Gallery. Meet Hazel Belvo, enjoy coffee and treats from Legacy Chocolates, and mark the momentous occasion of the M’s first exhibition inside the galleries since 2020.

At 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., tour the exhibition with Belvo and the exhibition’s co-curators Dakota Hoska (Oglála Lakhóta) and Laura Joseph. Jazz guitarist Briand Morrison (Ojibwe, Grand Portage Band) and singer Roxann Berglund will perform from 2:00–4:00 p.m.

Click here to register for tours.

About the Artist:

"Hazel Belvo’s artistic journey of integrating competing priorities through her art, and bringing her whole, multifaceted self to each artistic endeavor is an inspiration. While she is a singular and distinctive force, the foundation of her worldview is a feminist one that honors and acknowledges our mutual reliance and need for mutual support. As she approaches ninety, the M is proud to bring the beauty and wisdom expressed in her work to existing and new audiences." 

—M Curator and Director of Exhibitions Dr. Laura Joseph