Fine Arts

On an ordinary weekend, Haddonfield's main drag, Kings Highway, bustles with window shoppers, restaurant-goers, and families out for a stroll. Little side streets beckon with boutiques and galleries. But this weekend, Kings Highway will be in its annual Crafts and Fine Art Festival mode, a reminder that this town loves the arts, and has set aside this summer weekend for the last 19 years to prove it. This year marks a milestone 20th anniversary of the show. Tents line the middle of the street, and foot traffic expands exponentially as more than 285 crafters and artists, all juried into the show, display their wares in a festive arts corridor.

THE PENNSYLVANIA Academy of the Fine Arts is known for its focus on the human figure, thanks in part to its collection of works by famed Philadelphia painter Thomas Eakins, who studied there. Currently holding the spotlight at PAFA is a touring show of figurative paintings by American artist Eric Fischl, but also worthy of attention is Bill Viola's "Ocean Without a Shore," which is as painterly — and as figurative — as a video can get. Fischl's show, here through Sept.

Film   New this week: Brave sssd A feisty princess will have none of the clownish suitors her parents want her to consider for marriage — she'd rather ride her horse, shoot her arrows, wield her sword. And when a witch puts a curse on her lovely mother, she has to do all of that, and more. Pixar's 13th animated feature isn't up to the studio's best, but there's still plenty of heart in this Celtic-inspired yarn. PG (violence, scares, adult themes)   — Steven Rea     Fine arts   Resistence is futile.

While William H. Bunch will feature such well-known names in ceramics as Roseville and Rookwood in his catalog auction Tuesday of decorative and fine arts, the 353 lots will also include three pieces from an all-but-forgotten West Coast pottery maker, Brayton Laguna. Founded in 1927 in Laguna Beach, Calif., by Durlin Brayton and his wife, Ellen Webster Grieve, the single-kiln company made handcrafted vases, lamps, and dinnerware, according to the online California Pottery Index.

Mid-May brought artists from 17 states to participate in Wayne Art Center's Sixth Annual Plein Air Festival. Most of the 23 artists accepted for this increasingly competitive event came from a distance and were guests of local families while painting landscapes in and around Wayne for five festival days. The weather cooperated, and the art center hung the work as fast as it came in - hundreds of paintings, all for sale. Shelby Keefe, a full-time artist from Milwaukee, deservedly won two awards, best in show and Plein Air Magazine's prize, for an oil landscape portraying Ithan and one of Center City, respectively.

First impressions of "Haunting Narratives" prompts one to ask, Why hasn't someone done this exhibition before? Perhaps the subject was so familiar it needed a fresh eye, which Woodmere Art Museum, through director William R. Valerio and curator Matthew Palczynski, was able to give it. The show examines a kind of art that has been common in Philadelphia for a long time, and especially in recent years — an amalgam of observation, magic realism,...

Art Museums & Institutions African American Heritage Museum 661 Jackson Rd., Newtonville, NJ; 609-704-5495. www.aahmsnj.org . Tue.-Fri. 10 am-3 pm. Brandywine River Museum Rte. 1 & Rte. 100, Chadds Ford; 610-388-2700. www.brandywinemuseum.org . A Painter's View: The Andrew Wyeth Studio. $12; $6 seniors, students & children 6-12; free under 6 & for all Sun. until noon. Daily 9:30 am-4:30 pm. Chemical Heritage Foundation 315 Chestnut St.; 215-925-2178.

Visitors to this year's Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show might be surprised to find, among the landscape paintings and clay sculptures, scenes from the Occupy movement. The work belongs to Najee Dorsey, a self-described "documentarian of history and culture. " Dorsey is one of 143 artists appearing in this year's show. An annual tradition since 1932, it's the nation's oldest outdoor art show. Dorsey's work makes the show feel as fresh as ever. The artist feels it's his duty to engage the community in discussion and reflection on political and social issues.

While Charles L. Madden was still in el­e­men­ta­ry school, his moth­er of­ten took him from their Ken­sing­ton home to Sat­ur­day-morn­ing classes at the former Phila­del­phia College of Art at Broad and Pine Streets. By the time he was in eighth grade, he was drawing oc­ca­sion­al guest cartoons for the Phila­del­phia Eve­ning Bul­le­tin, mentored by Bil Keane, the art­ist known for the na­tion­al­ly syndicated Family Circus. The art ed­u­ca­tion that formed him resulted in Madden works ranging from stained-glass windows at Gwyn­edd Mercy College to a stat­ue of St. Pe­ter in Gal­i­lee.

When the Barnes Foundation opens its doors to the public Saturday, it not only will introduce visitors to a new gallery on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway; it could well serve as a gateway to Philadelphia's mélange of museums, galleries, art schools, historic sites, and gardens. Or maybe not. Aware of the intense interest focused on the foundation's Philadelphia debut - the climax of nearly a quarter-century of hyper-publicity and controversy swirling around the fate of Albert C. Barnes' extraordinary collection of modernist artworks - cultural and tourism officials have been considering how to transform the relocation of an art collection into a regional bonanza.