Barry Biesanz


Barry Charles Biesanz, also known as Barry Biesanz Hiltunen is a woodturner who became a Costa Rican citizen in 1998.

Life

As a 17 year old Detroit high school student, Barry received national press coverage for protesting the Vietnam war. Newsweek quoted him in a 1966 article on "The Teenagers" as saying "I got my hair cut. But now they are regulating ideas and I can't get my ideas cut." Another publication on the attitudes of 1966 teenagers, The young adult; identity and awareness also quoted him on this.
Barry Biesanz moved to Costa Rica in 1971 and founded Biesanz Woodworks in 1972.

Woodturning Press Coverage

  • 2006 "Biesanz Turns Out Masterpieces in Escazú" The Tico Times
  • 2005 "Barry Biesanz He Found Woodturner's Heaven" Woodturning Design Spring 2005
  • 2004 Beneath The Bark: Twenty-Five Years of Woodturning. Christensen, Kip & Nish, Dale. The catalogue of an exhibition at the Brigham Young Museum of Art, Provo, Utah.
  • 2002 "Artisan's Work Prized By Many" The Leader Post, May 31, pg 53
  • 2002 "Costa Rica for Wood Art" Edmonton Journal May
  • 2002 "Plant Tree, Save Culture" Harbour City Star, June 5
  • 2001 "Wood From Start to Finish Stars in Tour," Tico Times, December 14, 2001
  • 1997 "Crafts with the Scent of Wood," Costa Rica Today, Jan 23, 1997
  • 1995 "Un Encuentro Feliz," American Woodturner, September 1995 pg 28 by Connie Mississippi
  • 1995 "Bowled Over by Costa Rica," Excerpt from The Dallas Morning News, August 13, 1995 pg 7G by Terry Hong
  • 1994 "Arbolitos a su alcance," La Nacion Rincón Verde, Viva pg 2 by Vanessa Bravo, October 19, 1994
  • 1993 "Biesanz, A Master Craftsman in Wood" Costa Rica Today April 29
  • 1993 "Taipei International Exhibition of Traditional Arts and Crafts: Selected Overseas Exhibits" January 16 - 29th pp 96
  • 1993 "Barry Biesanz Master Woodworker," American Airlines Guide Magazine
  • 1992 "Magia de Madera" La Nacion, shopping section, September 15–22, page 8
  • 1992 "Noted Woodworker Backs Need to Conserve Forests” Tico Times Special Supplement January 1992
  • 1991 "Queen Sofia of Spain buys Biesanz Art, Tico Scene, Tico Times, April 26, 1991
  • 1991 “The Noble Woods of Costa Rica – God Creates Them, Biesanz Works Them”  Join Us – Costa Rica Awaits You Magazine, page 54
  • 1989/1990 "Featuring the Work of Barry Biesanz" International Woodworking, Cover article, Winter edition Vol. VI, No. 1
  • 1989 "Northwest Highlights" WestArt, April 14, 1989 Exhibition with Moulthrop and Ellsworth
  • 1987 "Shopper's World, Costa Rican Wood" New York Times, August 23, page 10012
  • 1987 "Shopping for Costa Rican Handicrafts" International Herald Tribune, August 28, 1987
  • 1984 “Barry Biesanz” Tico Times, June 1, 1984 by M.E.Esquivel