The origins of gnomes seems to go back to the days of Paracelsus. He was a Medieval healer and alchemist from Switzerland who lived in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. He listed them as a type of earth elemental creature.

However it wasn't until the 1800s that the actual creation of garden gnomes started. The first garden gnome statues are credited to a German ceramic artist named Philip Griebel. He crafted various forms in pottery for decoration and started making gnomes, inspired by the folk stories that these industrious and clever creatures would help you garden at night.

The debate about whether or not they were viewed as art or junk when they were first created has not been determined, as everyone's caught up in debating whether or not they are art or junk now.  And then there's the discussion around whether you perceive of gnomes as being good or evil....

Garden gnomes run the gamut from cheap yard art to expression of traditional folk art. Both proud gnome owners and fierce gnome "liberators" (who steal gnomes) proclaim their actions with gnomes are an expression of freedom for the mythological creatures.

The mystery of the travelling gnome is just the latest in the modern manifestation of these earthy creatures. Executed well, it's a college prank elevated to the level of interactive, performance art: a gnome owner finds their garden figure gone, only to receive a series of photographs or postcards, showing the gnome at various travel locations. The practice existed well before it was depicted in the movie AMELIE, but exposure there introduced a whole new generation to the classic gnomish prank.

Some people proclaim their love of garden gnomes visibily and others prefer to have their earth elementals be a more subtle part of their garden.  Your gnome might be of substantial size and clearly displayed or it might be a smallish figurine that can only be spied if you lift the right leaf and peek.