Before playing their soccer games Thursday, Anna and Katelyn McCoy took a moment to enjoy another favorite activity: art.

The McCoy sisters, decked out in their soccer uniforms, were among the first to arrive at the GumTree Museum of Art for a reception celebrating the Tupelo Public School District’s “Shared Treasures” exhibit. They viewed their own works and those by fellow Tupelo elementary students until it was time to leave for the soccer fields at Sportsplex.

Katelyn and Anna, who attend Parkway Elementary School, were thrilled to see their works in the art gallery.

Anna, a third-grader who entered the painting “Sewing Color” for the exhibit, said she enjoys art and soccer equally.

“In art, you can do pretty much anything,” she said. “Even if you mess up, you can still make it something. It doesn’t have to be exact. It can be anything.”

Katelyn, who’s in kindergarten, found her “Circus in Town” painting not far from Anna’s.

“I like art because I love doing crafts,” she said.

The reception, sponsored by the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, featured the works of talented students at Carver, Church Street, Lawhon, Milam, Joyner, Rankin, Pierce Street, Thomas Street, Lawndale and Parkway elementary schools, as well as King Early Childhood Education Center.

“It’s exciting for the kids,” said Sarah Lambert, an art teacher at Rankin Elementary School. “It gives them a sense a pride that they created something.”

“Shared Treasures” is on exhibit until Monday.