Instructor

June, whose Makah name is "Tu Ta Na" (not the traditional spelling) lives in Neah Bay on the Makah Reservation and is a fourth-generation basket weaver. Her great-grandmother, Louisa Greene, was a basket weaver, as were her late grandmother, Irene Hunter Ward-Ides, and her mother, Alva Ward Cummins. She was honored to learn basket weaving from her grandmother and mother. June's specialty is "twined wrap" weaving, although she's proficient in all types of basket weaving. She learned to harvest materials at 10 and by age 12 was allowed to start weaving under her grandmother's guidance. She started teaching basketry in her early 20s. She taught her daughters and is teaching her grandchildren. She teaches basketry at the Makah Cultural and Resource Center.