Huibert Sabelis Wybenga was born in Wageningen, The Netherlands in 1942 from Dutch and Indonesian heritage. He spent his childhood years in Medan, Indonesia and returned to The Netherlands to study under an art teacher, Mr. Bloothooft. At the age of 21, he immigrated to Canada, where he began to mix the two distinct cultures of his parental homelands into his artwork. With a blend of Dutch, Indonesian, and Canadian culture, he developed a very distinct style of his own.

Sabelis had his first solo exhibition at the Shute Institute in London, Ontario in 1967 and soon after connected with the Patmos Artist Group, with which he did Lino printing with the Dutch master artist Henk Krijger (Sengig) in Toronto. Five years after his first solo exhibition, he accomplished his first major international one at the Philippine National Museum in Manila, Philippines.

In 1976 he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he started to experiment with serigraphy before soon returning to Canada and working with fellow artist Rol Lampitoc in Toronto, where they published several editions together.

In 1982 he then moved to Sydney, Australia, where he made Parramatta his home for the next few years before once more returning to Canada. While in Australia he was given a traveling exhibition throughout Queensland. Currently Sabelis resides in Mississauga, Ontario in Canada.

Sabelis has exhibited throughout the world. His works can be found in private, corporate, and public collections in The Netherlands, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, The Philippines, Japan, Singapore, Israel, Mexico, Colombia, Australia, The United States, and Canada.