NILES — A community art project meant to bring area residents together to recognize the impact cancer is coming to the Niles District Library in a colorful, interactive way.

From July 15 to Aug. 24, visitors of the library can weave colored yarn representing a cancer that has impacted them or someone they know into a community tapestry. The future piece, titled “Colors of Cancer,” is meant to allow people to weave their own stories into a collective community tale, said Andrea Burns, programming manager and gallery coordinator for the library.

“I’m just really excited about it. I think it’s going to be a fun project,” she said. “I think it would be fun to watch it grow.”

Burns hopes the project grows in participant numbers, which will allow the tapestry to grow in length. She has no idea how long it could be, she said.

Anyone can participate, she said, resident or non-resident, cancer patient or survivor or weaving for a living person or in memory.

Burns hopes the diversity of people that take part in the project is reflected in the color and texture of the tapestry.

“It makes me think of all the different people in our community,” she said. “The different colors represent the different cancers they’ve been affected by. Each yarn is different. It has different textures. Everyone has different experiences.”

Burns knows from personal experience the breadth of people impacted who may be inclined to weave, as she just beat breast cancer herself.

“I know my cancer affected my children, my husband, my parents, my friends,” she said. “It affected tons of people. It affects everyone. I don’t know of anyone who hasn’t been affected by cancer.”

Whether using lavender or turquoise color, thick or thin yarn, Burns wants the final assembly of weaves to reflect cancer’s impact on the community.

No yarn or experience in weaving is needed to participate, either. A local weaver’s guild donated a loom and yarn to the project. A volunteer will teach others how to set up a loom and weave July 8 and 9 at the library. Then, those trainees will be available to help others weave at the library until Aug. 24.

“Who gets that opportunity to weave something?” Burns said. “How many people have never seen an actual loom? Probably many. I think it’s going to be exciting.”

Looms are objects where at least two strands of yarn are laced into them. Using attached pedals, the weaver can then interlace the two yarns with each other, creating a patterned weave.

Once the weaving project is completed on Aug. 24, it will be incorporated in a library art display set to open on July 15. Artwork from Berrien County Cancer Service’s Art Play workshops will be displayed in cases and on the walls, too. In the workshops, children and family affected by cancer create artwork from a variety of mediums, from paints to pottery clay.

The nonprofit, which provides skilled in-home nursing visits, free medical equipment loans and other cancer-related resources host the workshops with the help of local partners. They are meant to help families express their feelings, said CEO and director Nancy Church, but public displays of the artwork are especially impactful.

“It means so much to these kids to show their art to the community,” she said.

In November, Burns’ weaving project and Art Play workshop artwork will be displayed at the Box Factory in St. Joseph as part of a celebration and fundraiser.

For now, though, both the weaving project and workshop art will be at the district library.

Burns still hopes to find more people to participate in the volunteer workshop at 9:30 a.m. Monday, July 8, or 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 9.

She has already found support from a Niles business, Milano’s Pizza, though.

“They do a lot in a very quiet way of supporting those with cancer in Niles,” Church said.