The National Bonsai Foundation and greater bonsai community celebrates the life of brilliant bonsai artist Marybel Balendonck, who passed away at age 97 in California in February 2023.
Balendonck was born and raised in Texas, working an assortment of odd jobs (even obtaining a pilot’s license!) before moving to California in the 1960s. Asian arts captivated her, and she began to teach herself bonsai through books, starting her formal training in 1965. She was one of John Naka’s principal students and dear friends but also studied under prominent artists like Melba Tucker and Harry Hirao.
Since her introduction to bonsai, her passion for the art only grew, and she became thoroughly involved in the bonsai community, once saying that "bonsai combines many of the best aspects of art and nature.”
Balendonck was one of the founding members of the NBF Board of Directors (serving until 2020) and an original member of Kofu Bonsai Kai, a Southern California-based bonsai club. She served in several bonsai club leadership positions, including the Santa Anita Bonsai Society, California Bonsai Society, Golden State Bonsai Federation and a founding member of California Aiseki Kai. She was also the first non-Japanese member of Nampu Kai Bonsai – John Naka’s exclusive bonsai club.
Naka (in overalls) and Nampu Kai members gather including Marybel (in yellow) around a tree during a 2003 meeting in California
“There was hardly any separation between John and Marybel, they were that close,” Former NBF President and Chair Emeritus Felix Laughlin said. “Her legacy will be the Museum’s John Y. Naka Pavilion and the iterations of it in future renovations. Marybel was the real deal and a great and tenacious fighter and promoter of NBF and the Museum.”
Left: John Naka and wife Alice Naka with Marybel
Right: Marybel (orange), John Naka, Nay Komai, Barbara Hall Marshall, Cheryl Manning and Alice Naka
Besides her support for the Naka Pavilion, which houses the North American collection, Balendonck was a key player in the fundraising efforts for several Museum structures and was known for her generous heart. The California Bonsai Society and other friends of Marybel helped to fund the Research Center of the Museum’s exhibits gallery, recognizing her contributions toward the Museum’s completion.
“Legend has it that during a banquet at a bonsai convention in California she locked all the doors except one, where she put a table and chair in front of and no one could leave unless they gave to the North American Pavilion construction project,” former NBF Co-President Jack Sustic said. “Not sure if that's the exact truth, but knowing Marybel I wouldn't put it past her!”
Her trees were displayed in venues like the Huntington Library and Gardens, Los Angeles County Arboretum, the Japanese American Cultural Center Los Angeles and the Bowers Museum in Orange County, California. Her Chinese Elm, shown left and donated to the Museum in 1990, was once on display at the White House. She was awarded the 1994 Ben Oki Award by the American Bonsai Society.
Marybel also has several stones, including a dobutsu-seki, or animal-shaped stone, in collections all over the world.
“I have so much respect and admiration for Marybel and consider myself fortunate to be able to call her friend,” Sustic said. “Never one to hide her opinions or waver in her views, one knew exactly where they stood in her eyes. We came to be close friends and her support of me, as a friend and as curator has meant the world to me and I'm eternally grateful for both.”
Marybel, middle, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Naka Pavilion in November 1988.