FOLEY, Ala. — The “Grandma Moses of the American Southwest” is coming to the Foley Arts Center.

You’re invited to meet Aggie Villanueva and view her visionary Southwest photo art during an opening reception for her solo exhibit on Thursday, Aug. 6, from 5-6:30 p.m.

Light refreshments, wine and other beverages will be served.

There will be around 40 framed pieces in all sizes, and several prints and matted prints.

“As the daughter of Pat Crumby (of Foley), I am extremely excited for the opportunity to visit with all of you,” Villanueva said.

She was given the “Grandma Moses” title by her artistic peers.

Villanueva’s photos have been described as “beautiful work that exemplifies the capability of modern software in the hands of an artist.”

She is self-taught. As a photographic artist (and a grandmother), Villanueva’s subjects are also mostly rural.

Award winning and critically acclaimed, the Rio Grande Sun said of Villanueva’s work: Her “photographic treatment of her subjects sometimes begins to border on the surreal. Villanueva is one of those rare individuals who uses new technology, such as Adobe Photoshop, to take a digital image to a new and exciting level. With some photographers this digitizing and manipulation are evident and stumbling … not so with Villanueva’s work, which is sophisticated and well thought out. She has a knack for transferring her impression of a scene to the viewer that is remarkable and almost magical.”

Villanueva says of her beloved mountains, “Rural subjects in the Southwest are very different than elsewhere in the United States. We are the last true American frontier, with a gritty purity born of living close to the land. The American Southwest continually draws awe and interest worldwide, as well as from our own sea to shining sea.”

And Villanueva should know. Beginning in 1996, she lived in rural New Mexico’s Madrid/Cerillos area without water, electricity or plumbing, hauling all her water by hand, her only light the kerosene lamp, and with no phones as cell phones don’t work in the “dead zones” she occupies, past and present.

In 2001 she moved with her dogs into her tiny log cabin in the foothill forests of the San Pedro Wilderness Area, getting snowed in for most of every winter, but now has the luxury of “water pouring right out the wall when you turn the knob!”

She has “paid her dues to the land” as the locals say, but still spends her time roaming the majestic mountains of northern New Mexico more intimately than most.

It’s no wonder Villanueva’s reputation for knowing her beloved mountains as not many others has spread even among locals of many generations, who can’t recognize where most of her landscapes were taken, though they are “in our own backyard.”

Her photographic art reflects that spiritual intimacy.

Villanueva said, “Through the medium of digital photography and post processing, my Fairy Trails Gallery is dedicated to depicting truth and strength and purity and beauty that might otherwise be overlooked as simply a lake or gate or field.

“When I stumbled into this realm that is New Mexico it was as if I'd been called. I discovered a realm where wisdom and vision emanates from every cliff and crag — a realm I'd been warned all my life does not exist.

“You live in a fairy tale, Aggie, and life is NOT a fairy tale.”

If you would like to preview her work online, visit the Cielos Rojos Photographic Arts gallery,  at www.cielosrojos.com.

The Foley Arts Center is located at 119 W. Laurel Ave.

Call (251) 943-4381 for more information.