Wow, another year of posts here at Wonder Wander. It has been a crazy time in the world, but I will admit that writing these posts every week has helped me hold it together and even brought a bit of joy! I meet people all the time who mention how the Weekly Wonder has a positive impact on their lives. When I write each week, I am never sure who will be impacted or which stories will hit home for readers. Looking back at the year, there are metrics I can look at, and this top 10 post will be a mix of the posts that resonated with you and the ones I was particularly impacted by, (in no particular order). Each story has a link to the archived post on my website. Enjoy!
#10 Kinetic Art
The Weekly Wonder called Clarity from Chaos-Breaking Wave by Hypersonic was published on September 28, 2025, and was the first of a series about kinetic art. From most angles, Breaking Wave looks like chaos. But from hidden spots, order emerges: a labyrinth and a Fibonacci spiral flower. A powerful reminder that sometimes clarity only comes when we change our perspective. I selected Breaking Wave because it challenges everything we think we know about capturing movement in static form, creating a visual experience that makes us feel the rush and power of water in motion. This sculpture was also a fine example of cooperation by artists and engineers.
#9 Installation Art
Installation art makes me smile. The awe and thrill I feel in immersing myself in someone’s art is transformative. Unlike traditional artworks confined to galleries or frames, installation art invites viewers to step inside and become part of the artwork itself. This form of art challenges perceptions, evokes emotions, and fosters a deeper connection between the observer and the space.) This Weekly Wonder called Installation Art from January 19th, 2025 focused on Installation art by many artists and was the most popular post of the year for readers!
#8 Graffiti Art-Make Your Mark
May 18th, 2025 Make Your Mark: Graffiti on the Move
Whether or not you believe train graffiti is art or vandalism, this post reveals that graffiti is more complicated than you might expect. There is a rich history with rules, styles, and terminology for different parts of the medium. The variety of styles mixed with innate risks of this art form make it that much more impressive.
#7 Chance in Art
This post called Orchestrated Chance -Art That Let's Go, from November 2nd, 2025 goes in a slightly different direction than the Dada artists creating collage and paintings as Boursier-Mougenot creates animated chance including sound and visual elements. When I first heard the gently resonating sounds of the bowls as they touched, it brought me back to Lerici, Italy. From our little hotel room above the marina, we could hear the riggings of the moored sailboats singing in the wind. This sound carries such fond and vivid memories for my husband and me. French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot transforms living spaces into immersive sound installations where nature becomes the composer. It's a beautiful surrender to unpredictability.
#6 Land Art
This post from September 14, 2025, titled "Broken Landscapes," features scenes by artist Antti Laitinen that capture the forests and terrain surrounding his rural home in southern Finland. Perfect holes appear through a fir tree. The monotone colors of a line of birch trees are interrupted by an unexpected flash of autumnal foliage. The wildness of nature is contained within grids and forms too regular to have grown naturally. Nothing is as it seems — or as it ought to be. His work is stunning and sculpted, not photoshopped!
#5 Working within Constraints
The technical skill exhibited in artist Ed Fairburn's work is celebrated in Faces and Places- Constraints of Working with Maps, published on August 17th, 2025. Fairburn uses the lines of the map as a guide to create his portraits. Working only within the constraints of the map, he only thickens the existing lines or uses crosshatching within the predefined space. Light and dark areas are created with his line placement and thickness. His portraiture is, in effect, traditional as the figures are realistic headshots, but by using the map as the substrate and drawing directly onto it using pen, he is able to integrate the figure with the place.
#4 Paper-Fold
I love paper and the ways it can defy its nature. Several artists blur the lines between art, science, engineer, and magician with paper in One Sheet: Art, Science, Magic published June 29th, 2025. Paper is an incredibly versatile thing: we can write on it, build with it, and even make stunning, thought-provoking art with it. Taking flat sheets of paper and transforming them into three-dimensional wonders takes an incredible amount of skill and intellect.
#3 Paper! Quilling?
Ok, I said I loved paper, didn't I? February 19th, 2025 Paper Precision focuses on the beautiful work of Daphne Judith Lee. Daphne is much more of a paper artist than a traditional quilling artist, but her work has roots in quilling, as each piece is a thin strip of paper glued on edge. I fell in love with her precision and range from organic to geometric. I chose my favorite work from each category on her site. These works will make you wonder!
#2 Observer as Artist- Circles
Look at the San Juan I saw on a February vacation through circles I photographed around town. The circle theme that started one morning continued through different parts of San Juan and gave an interesting focus that somehow captured the diversity and flavor of this amazing city. This post got a lot of attention. Check out the original post San Juan, PR in 16 Circles from February 23rd, 2025.
#1 Collaborative Art
Lite Brite Mural in Union Depot Offers Joy, Inclusivity & Community was published on December 14, 2025. Also called All I Want For Christmas, as Ta-coumba Aiken used Lite Brite in this piece. Artists who use toys as their medium really are fun to see and make their work very accessible to the public. In challenging times, working together lightens individual burdens and strengthens resilience. Collaboration combines unique skills, making tough tasks more achievable, and builds emotional well-being by fostering connection and countering isolation. Group efforts create a sense of shared purpose, leading to a lasting impact on both individuals and the community.
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