Purpose is ageless in CC Young’s art & writing contest

“I‘ve got to think of something for next year,” 100-year-old Anita Hullum says as she sits in a wheelchair.

Hullum is a resident at the community and the oldest entrant in the CC Young Spirit is Ageless Art and Writing Contest. And even though she’s won awards for both writing and art in several categories over her 14 years participating in the contest, she’s not tied to any one medium. Hullum is looking for her next challenge.

“It has to be something different, because I’m not an artist; it has to be something kind of different and fun.”

Her life reads like a page-turning semi-fiction novel on life in North Texas in the 20th century. Born in rural East Texas, Hullum has ranched, married an oilman, worked in a high-profile finance office in Oak Cliff Tower and even went back to finish a master’s degree in counseling from Southern Methodist University at the age of 54. Through it all, she’s kept busy — especially in later years. In 2018, Hullum’s potting work was featured in a photography series entitled “The Passions Project,” which documented older people’s late life hobbies and interests.

This year, she attended a workshop at CC Young and decided to enter a necklace made of polymer clay beads and flowers in the contest’s hard crafts & sculpture category. With past projects including pottery, prose and sculpture, each year brings Hullum a fresh and novel opportunity to express herself.

“I have some friends that are very social in their life,” she says. “That’s what it’s about, tennis, swimming and golf and the bridge, and I have nothing against those things. But to me, I’m a people person, and I like working and doing for people, and this is a place I can continue that.”

And even though she may not consider herself an artist or writer, she’s still got her eyes on the ribbons.

“Does a cat got a jam? Yeah, of course, I’m afraid I’m very competitive,” she jokes in a gentle Willis Point lilt.

Hullum joined 125 other entrants in the Spirit is Ageless Contest this year. While it originally began as a homegrown arts and writing competition sponsored by local Methodist churches, the contest has grown to include 14 categories spanning everything from Van Gogh-style painting to poetry since coming under CC Young’s umbrella.

Resident and Community Engagement Director Brian Parman oversees The Point, CC Young’s senior enrichment center which he likens to a “college student union for seniors.” At The Point, Parman organizes guest lectures with speakers from local universities, pie baking contests and performances by jazz ensembles for residents and non-resident members. He’s worked at CC Young for 10 years but says he’s still surprised by what entrants submit for the contest.

“It’s fun during art intake. We, as organizers, don’t ever really know what we’re getting until it shows up,” Parman says. “We’ve gotten a little bit more sophisticated with online registration, so we have an idea of who’s maybe coming.”

Nonresidents aged 55 and up are able to submit one piece of work for free, with a small fee added for additional entries. The Point regularly hosts local artists like 74-year-old nonresident Elaine Jary for monthly solo exhibitions. After Parman saw her paintings on display at the Continental Gin Building, Jary was invited to feature a collection of watercolors. She has participated in every contest since, and says she has no plans to stop anytime soon.

“I don’t feel 74 and yet, I have over 50 years of experience as an adult, lots of memories, right? I do not want to slow down,” she says. “I want to stay active and I want to keep learning. Somebody told me one time, ‘People of above average intelligence keep learning their entire life.’”

Winners like resident Walt Davis, who won third place in the watercolor painting category for his painting of a lighthouse on the Washington State Coast, are selected by a panel of judges. At 82, he says he’s drawing further inspiration from his idols to keep pushing.

“(I’ll paint) as long as I can. As long as I feel like it’s credible work that other people will enjoy. I’ll keep doing it, and I might keep sketching till the very end,” Davis says. “I’m inspired by Matisse. When he was bedridden, he got a cane pole and a piece of chalk and threw it on the ceiling.”

Each competition concludes with a reception recognizing ribbon winners like Davis. This year, for the show’s 25th anniversary, an opening reception was added to the lineup at The Point featuring guest speaker Alise Cortez, an organizational psychologist and host of the Working on Purpose podcast. She has published five books dealing with organizational culture, leadership and grief. The five books, all of which touch on purpose in some way, were each published after Cortez turned 55 years old.

She lists one of her main influences as Viktor Frankel, an Austrian psychologist and Holocaust survivor who pioneered the school of logotherapy, which considers man’s search for meaning a central driver in the human experience. For her, that search for purpose is embodied in the contest.

“All of that is empowerment,” Cortez says. “It’s human agency, it’s mindset, it’s choice, and I can work with that all day long. So aging is a mindset. And so if you choose to say, ‘I’m old, I can’t get around,’ guess what? You’re old and you can’t get around. If you choose to say, ‘I’m going to live my best year yet,’ that’s what’s going to happen.”

Cortez likely has a supporter in centenarian Hullum. Mixed in among Neiman Marcus shopping sprees and lunches in New York, Hullum lost her fortune and marriage. Her husband slid further and further into alcoholism as bad investments piled up, causing Hullum herself to begin drinking heavily following her divorce.

And yet, Hullum still says she’s lived a blessed life. After her sister finally found her a rehabilitation program that stuck, Hullum set out on the path that led her to SMU and, eventually, a final career late in life as as counselor for individuals much like herself. She retired at the age of 80 but still stays busy. She’s still living a life of meaning.

“Without a purpose, what’s life about? And if you can’t help people or let God work through you, you’re not not doing much,” Hullum says. “It’s a pretty dull old life.”