Jan Ernst Abraham Volschenk grew up and lived in Riversdale in the Western Cape. A mostly self-taught artist, he created art in his spare time while working as a bookkeeper in an attorney's office. Volschenk joined the South African Drawing Club in 1894 and exhibited with the group. He married Helen Smallberger in 1899 and together they had nine daughters – the eldest of whom, Vera, followed in he