Hazel Belvo is an American painter, educator and women's art advocate. Belvo was born in 1934 and grew up on a farm in

Centerville, Ohio Centerville is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. A core suburb of Metro Dayton, its population was 24,240 as of the 2020 census. Geography Centerville is located at (39.638709, -84.148087). Although the city is located primar ...

. She attended

Dayton Art Institute The Dayton Art Institute (DAI) is a museum of fine arts in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The Dayton Art Institute has been rated one of the top 10 best art museums in the United States for children. The museum also ranks in the top 3% of all art mus ...

. She taught art at St. Paul Academy. She spent her summers in

Grand Portage, Minnesota Grand Portage is an unorganized territory in Cook County, Minnesota, United States, on Lake Superior, at the northeast corner of the state near the border with northwestern Ontario. The population was 565 at the 2010 census. The unincorporated ...

and was an artist-in-residence at the Grand Marais Art Colony, and taught there for many years. She was a co-founder of the Women's Art Registry of Minnesota (WARM). She became Chair of Fine Arts at the

Minneapolis College of Art and Design The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer ...

in 1989. She retired as Professor Emeritus at Minneapolis College of Art and Design after teaching for there for 34 years

Belvo's art engages spirituality, myth, and the feminine, with the study of nature as a prominent theme. Her exhibition ''Spirit Tree'' at the Bockley Gallery featured paintings of the Witch Tree, Little Cedar Spirit Tree (''Manidoo-giizhikens''). Her series ''Transfusion Quartet'' was based on her experiences waiting for someone having a

blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...

and the images took on a "metaphysical significance under psychological and physical reality seemed inextricably connected." Belvo was one of twelve artists profiled in Joanna Inglot's 2007 book ''WARM: A Feminist Art Collective in Minnesota''. Belvo's work is included in private and public collections including the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Walker Art Center, Weisman Art Museum, Tweed Museum of Art, Bezalel Museum, Dewitt Wallace Collection and General Mills

Personal life

Belvo was married and had two sons before she met Anishinaabe artist George Morrison (artist), George Morrison at Ohio's

. They wed in 1960 and had a son, Briand Mesaba, in 1961. They lived in a renovated church in Saint Paul and in the mid-1970s purchased land on

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

near Grand Portage. They named it "Red Rock" and it served as both home and studio for the artists. Belvo divorced Morrison in 1991 and the two remained friends. Morrison died in 2000. Belvo's current partner is artist Marcia Cushmore. They live in Minneapolis and Grand Marais, Minnesota

Personal life

References

Further reading