PORTLAND – Gleason Fine Art will present two new shows Friday at its Portland gallery: “Philip Barter: New Work,” and “Clarence K. Chatterton (1880-1973): An Artist’s Artist.”

The exhibit will start with an opening reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at the gallery, 545 Congress St.

Barter began creating art in the 1960s. He took a break in the 1970s to lobster, and returned to making art full-time in the 1980s.

In 1992, Bates College recognized Barter with a 25-year retrospective. A news release describes his paintings as “brilliantly colored and modernist-influenced.”

In the release, arts writer Carl Little says, “The appeal of Barter’s stylized renderings of trees, clouds and rivers is powerful. His ability to extract the essence of the landscape provokes marvel. His palette, often not for the faint of hue, underscores his lively vision.”

The second featured artist is Chatterton, who studied at the New York School of Art. He was part of a group of young artists that included Edward Hopper, with whom he shared a studio, George Bellows and Rockwell Kent — all students of Robert Henri.

In 1910 Chatterton, Hopper and other members of the Henri group were invited to exhibit at the MacDowell Club in New York City. In 1925, he was offered his first solo exhibition at the prestigious Wildenstein Gallery.

He was known for his depiction of small-town America — Newburgh, N.Y., and the coastal Maine villages of Ogunquit, Biddeford Pool, Kennebunk and Monhegan.

In 1948, Chatterton retired from Vassar College as professor emeritus of art and artist in residence. He spent the next two decades in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., pursuing his art until he died in 1973.

For more information, call 699-5599 or go to gleasonfineart.com.