A popular lawn decoration has been super-sized at the College of Staten Island.
Students created a 20-foot wooden gnome on the lawn in front of the Center of the Arts after working on it since June. The group says the gnome illustrates the importance of protecting the environment.
"The gnome is sleeping or the gnome is dead, and one symbolism then would be that because we are basically destroying -- or destroyed our environment already -- and so we also destroy the mythical creatures who live underneath the woods," said Professor of Photography Beatrix Rhinehardt.
"If we are not keeping our gnomes alive, we are obviously doing something wrong," said artist Kalle Mustonen.
The gnome celebration is slated to continue Sept. 19, when students explain how they created the art.