Kyle Galante is not your typical artist. Recognizing the tremendous gifts she has been given, she has found ways to turn her works into service to others.

And thanks to Galante, the citizens of Holmdel have a fitting memorial to honor their 21 neighbors who perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

“I’ve always been drawn to art,” she said during her presentation at the Re:IMAGE Film Festival on April 24 in Asbury Park’s Paramount Theater. Galante described how her one-time hobby became a more common activity after college. “(However), I felt like something was missing.”

She soon began to donate some of her paintings to local charities that would then sell them and use proceeds to support their programs. “That was my way, at the time, to serve,” she explained.

Galante also began to grow closer to God through silent prayer, where she would listen to his words and write down her conversations.

After September 11, she asked herself what she could do to help those who were suffering. “I felt their pain, and I wanted to express it somehow,” she said. The first project involved a number of local artists who sold their works and donated proceeds to memorial funds. However, that wasn’t enough for Galante.

Soon after, she agreed to create a sculpture for her hometown of Holmdel to honor their fallen neighbors, to be showcased at the town hall. During the planning process, she relied primarily on God’s guidance and support to envision the final product.

“This is what I head from him,” she said when displaying her original sketches.

The memorial consists of a round granite base with two bronze hands on top, opening towards the sky in a gesture of prayer. “We are all in God’s hands,” she continued. “That’s what God wanted me to portray.”

As part of her afternoon presentation between film screenings, Galante told the story of how she got involved in the project, as well as the role that God played in the process.

“God put the people in place for me,” she said when tearfully recounting a chance meeting with a relative of one of the 9/11 victims from her town.

In 2005, Galante was encouraged by a deacon to join the RCIA program, as she was not a practicing Catholic. In 2006, she became part of the Church, and especially enjoys attending weekly Mass and praying with members of the congregation.

“I feel so complete,” she said. “It is such a privilege. That sense of community is really so important.”

For Galante, her faith is a way to live life to its fullest, and her talents are a source of strength along the way.

“I really encourage everyone to use their gifts to serve others,” she said.

Among members of the audience during her presentation were students from The College of New Jersey, Ewing, who attended the festival with Father William Lago, chaplain of Catholic campus ministry at the college.

“I guess I was really struck by the fact that she really was able to construct something with such an amazing connection to God,” said Conor Byrne, a junior.

Senior music major Mary Starkey also enjoyed hearing Galente’s story, and found an inherent connection with her own talents.

“I liked hearing about an artist serving God,” she said, describing artistic talent as having a natural connection with service to others.