Sean Kekamakupaʻa Lee Loy Browne (born 1953) was born in 1953 and raised on Hawaiian Homestead Lands in Keaukaha, Hilo, Hawaii. A graduate of the Kamehameha Schools class of 1971, he earned his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Redlands in 1975 and his Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1983. In 1981 he traveled to Pietrasanta, Italy to study marble carving under Paoli Silverio and was later accepted as an artist-in-residence at Henreaux Marble Company in Querceta, Italy. In 1985 he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, enabling him to study stone sculpture under the guidance of Isamu Noguchi in Shikoku, Japan. For many years, Browne taught sculpture at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and at Kapiʻolani Community College.
Sean’s metal and stone commissions have been executed in Hawaii, California and abroad, including the Yamada Stone Company in Mure, Japan, the Girogio Angeli studio in Querceta, Italy and the Versiliese Foundry in Pietrasanta, Italy.
Some of Sean’s figurative commission work of Hawaiian royalty can be seen in Waikiki, Honolulu, including statues of King David Kalakaua, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop and Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana’ole. Examples of Sean’s abstract stone and metal work, that draw inspiration from his native Hawaiian culture, can be seen at Kapiʻolani Community College, Pali Momi Medical Center, the Hawaii State Art Museum, the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Honolulu, Hawaii and the Ellison Onizuka Airport, Kona, Hawaii.