Willem Volkersz papers, 1985-2025

Willem Volkersz is a mixed-media artist and art collector. He was born in 1939 in the Netherlands to Everhardus Gerard Volkersz and Elisabeth Volkersz-Merens. His family immigrated to the United States in 1953, when he was 14. He received his Bachelor of Arts from The University of Washington in 1965 and his Master of Fine Arts from Mills College in California in 1967.

Volkersz is most known for his work in neon sculptures and paint-by-numbers style painting, often incorporating multiple techniques, and occasionally found objects, into his pieces. His works have been featured in the Emerson Cultural Center (Bozeman, Montana), Museum of the Rockies (Bozeman, Montana), Yellowstone Art Museum (Billings, Montana), Missoula Art Museum (Missoula, Montana), Holter Museum of Art (Helena, Montana), Museum of Neon Art (Glendale, California), Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art (Great Falls, Montana), Plains Art Museum (Fargo, North Dekota), Museum of Northwest Art (La Conner, Washington), Coconino Center for the Arts (Flagstaff, Arizona), Reed Whipple Cultural Center (Las Vegas, Nevada), Francine Seders Gallery (Seattle, Washington), Leeds Polytechnic (Leeds, England), and others.

Volkersz was the Director of the School of Art at Montana State University (MSU) from 1986 until his retirement in 2001, when he was granted the status of Emeritus Professor. During his time as director his works were exhibited in galleries on campus and in faculty art magazines. Prior to teaching at MSU he taught at The Ohio State University (1967-1968), Leeds College of Art, Leeds, England (1972-1973), and Kansas City Art Institute (1968-1986).

He has received the Montana Governor's Arts Award in 2020, the James and Mary Ross Provost's Award for Excellence (Montana State University) in 1999, the Charles and Nora L. Wiley Research Award for Meritorious Research and Creativity (Montana State University) in 1998, and the Anna K. Fridley Phi Kappa Phi Distinguished Teaching Award (Montana State University) in 1996.

Volkersz has also been an avid collector of folk art and the works of self-taught artists. In 1986 he donated a collection of audio cassettes of folk artist interviews to the Archives of American Art (Washington, D.C.). His collection of folk, outsider, and self-taught art now resides at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, Wisconsin), The Missoula Art Musem (Missoula, Montana), and the Hallie Ford Museum of Art (Salem, Oregon).

He lives in Bozeman, Montana, with his wife Diane Volkersz.