The creative design potential of calligraphy is almost limitless: it can be a very personal pathway to explore an enormous array of sophisticated visual concepts. In this striking and original book, renowned calligrapher Denise Lach transforms images from nature into a rich source of inspiration for calligraphic compositions.

This is not a technical how-to guide, but an incitement to reinterpret our surroundings in infinitely varied lettering. Lach invites us to look closely at details and textures, expanding our powers of observation and finding ideas in the world around us. Using a range of writing tools and techniques, she takes a playful approach to written script, encouraging readers to look beyond legibility and use letterforms as building blocks to create beautiful calligraphic images.

Not only do scripts and alphabets form bridges between cultures, but their history and the stories they tell are the perfect springboard for calligraphic experimentation. From India to Ethiopia, Tibet and beyond, Denise Lach has travelled widely in the world of script. Here, she documents complex and simple characters, playful shapes and vibrant colours, which she then translates into her own visual art. She demonstrates the exciting design possibilities offered by script: you can repeat, turn, mirror and rotate letters; you can also experiment with rhythms, contrasts, colours and line widths. In addition to calligraphic techniques, Lach introduces examples from printmaking, fabric printing, collage making and digital techniques. As illustrated by its beautifully photographed works of art - on paper, stone, fabric or ceramic material- Journeys in Calligraphy will take you to many surprising destinations.

A "wicked problem" isn't one with an evil nature, but a problem that is impossible or difficult to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often hard to recognize. Classic examples of wicked problems include economic, environmental, and political issues. We now live in a world full of wicked problems, most of them urgent challenges calling out for creative, democratic, and effective solutions. Ed Weber, Denise Lach, and Brent Steel, of the Oregon State University School of Public Policy, solicited papers from a wide variety of accomplished scholars in the fields of science, politics, and policy to address this challenge. The resultant collection focuses on major contemporary environmental and natural resource policy issues, and proposes an assortment of alternative problem-solving methodologies to tackle such problems.