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The Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies will launch “Resilient Roots: Pollinators, Weeds, & the Art of Repair,” a new exhibit from the center’s Renaissance of the Earth project, from Feb. 28-Aug. 31.

Showcasing contemporary art, rare books and innovative research, “Resilient Roots” explores the powerful connections between the earth’s most persistent plants and the creatures that sustain them. The exhibit encourages visitors to ask how insights from the natural environment and early modern world inspire new ways to repair the fragile environments that sustain us all.

Renaissance of the Earth is a publicly engaged humanities project that brings together a series of interdisciplinary research collaborations, undergraduate and graduate courses, hands-on workshops, curated exhibitions and arts programming to consider how legacies of the early modern past inform our environmental future. The project invites local artists and scholars to explore the ways in which their work intersects with Renaissance thought and craft to produce creations and conduct research that generates new perspectives on the relationship between the early modern world and our own.

An opening reception for “Resilient Roots” will be held at the Kinney Center, located at 650 E. Pleasant Street in Amherst, on Saturday, Feb. 28 from 1-3 p.m., with an artists’ talk scheduled for 2 p.m.

The reception and exhibit are free and open to the public. The center is open weekdays from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. and parking is free.