She was born in Chicago in 1918 and raised by her mother who was a traveling saleslady. She dropped out of high school to pursue art and her first work was exhibited under the name of June Claire. Her first art expedition was in 1935 and another one followed in 1936.

June quickly established herself among some of the more elite in the art culture including Saul Bellow, Richard Wright and others. In 1939, she moved to New York where she quickly went to work for a costume jewelry designer.

In the middle of the 1940s, she married and her husband's last name replaced "Claire" which stood as the name she would begin to find with the most recognition. Her marriage wasn't one that would last forever but the name stuck.

During the World War II days, Wayne went to Cal-Tech where she studied Production Illustration. A job opening became available in Chicago and she moved back home. There, she would work for WGN where her artistic endeavors would gain notable acceptance while a new fondness would be found for literary works where she would later excel.

After the war, June Wayne returned to California and she would stay there and become a mainstay in the California art set. She would also collaborate with a great artist from Paris. Through her efforts, Tamarind Lithography Workshop would be born and her own lithographs would become highly recognized.

In 1970, Wayne would begin working with tapestries where many of them would gain recognition in France. Today, her work is highly sought after by art collectors and her lithographs remain recognized by those who studied June Wayne's works of artistic mastery.