Hushed Noise’s 10: Mike Thebridge on Mindfulness, Mixed Media, and Making Space for Emotion
28 May 2025
Mike Thebridge is a mixed-media artist whose work explores mindfulness, emotional reflection, and the messy beauty of navigating one’s inner world. With a background in the ambulance service and a creative lineage rooted in family, Mike uses art as both therapy and communication. Drawing on layers of repetition, introspection, and vulnerability, his pieces invite viewers to slow down and reconnect with themselves. In this interview, he shares how overthinking shaped his visual practice, why he values accessible creativity, and what it means to build a career on authenticity.
Hushed Noise: Can you share a bit about your artistic journey? What inspired you to start creating?
Mike Thebridge: I studied art at school and university, I never really thought of doing anything else with my life, the questions have only ever been how I want to create and how to make a living from my work.
My older brothers, my mum and my dad’s mum all had creative sides and as the youngest of the family I think this led me to it initially. I’ve been lucky that no one has ever tried to steer me away from Art or questioned it as my career and I’m very grateful for that as it’s not an easy path to follow and any discouragement could have derailed me.
Hushed Noise: How does your cultural background or personal experiences influence your work?
Mike Thebridge: I suppose as I’m British there is slight irreverence to my work. Other than that I’ve been exposed to lots of different art styles and influences in my life and never felt any form of creativity to be higher than others. I think this led me to a mixed media approach to art as I want to put everything, I love all at the same time.
Conceptually, my struggle to recognise and understand my emotions, and tendency to feel paralysed by over thinking led me to creating works that encourage self-reflection and make space for mindful practice.
Hushed Noise: Can you walk us through your creative process? How do you develop an idea into a finished piece?
Mike Thebridge: I tend to start small, working with drawings and paper. There is much less I can put into small scale pieces, so there are less decisions. Then I work repetitively with the same images and scale up, bringing in more elements and ideas as the work grows. I find working again and again on the same image gets ideas out of my head where I can see them more clearly and evaluate them without feeling like I am judging a part of myself. I think ideas need time and space to grow, creativity needs a flexible routine and good habits, whilst artists need to spend as much time exploring the world as spent in the studio, art doesn’t happen in isolation from the world but as a part of it.
Hushed Noise: What themes or messages do you explore in your art, and why do they resonate with you?
Mike Thebridge: Growing up, I struggled to share my feelings, let go of my worries and was often overwhelmed by my thoughts. This impacted how I connected with others. As I learned more about self-reflection and mindfulness, I found it easier to overcome these difficulties, which is why I create the art I make today.
Hushed Noise: What challenges do you face as an emerging artist, and how do you navigate them?
Mike Thebridge: Honestly, the most difficult aspect is making steady income from my art. Making art can be expensive as is doing fairs and exhibitions, so I spend a lot of what I earn on future projects. I think this is a common problem and it shapes our choices in what we can make as artists. I am hyper aware that everything I make and do should be leading to making something that I could sell, which isn’t always the best for creative choices and changes how I create. With that being said I feel I have found a balance in my practice and I am happy with what I make and how I sell my work.
Hushed Noise: Are there any artists, movements, or experiences that have deeply influenced your work?
Mike Thebridge: My first job out of university was working on the phones as a call handler for the ambulance service. I encountered people at their most vulnerable and desperate, and many of the calls stayed with me long after they ended. Encountering others' trauma like this made me realise I had no way to process my own emotions or let go of my past experiences.
Making art is a meditation, and the act of making helps uncover how our minds work. The different ways in which thoughts and emotions manifest in our minds and affect our moods and actions fascinate me. Each artwork is a journey and a reflection of the different layers of being and experiences of a chaotic mind, as each person is on a journey that needs regular moments to pause and look around at who they are and what's going on in their head, which is why I share the art I make.
Hushed Noise: How do you see your art evolving in the next few years?
Mike Thebridge: Bigger, more detailed pieces. I like that I don’t always know how my art will evolve so I am looking forward to some surprises.
Hushed Noise: What’s a recent project or piece that you’re particularly proud of, and why?
Mike Thebridge: I am most happy with my A3 paper pieces. I recently have exhibited at The Other Art Fair, London. This was a goal for a few years, so I am happy to be there and to grow in that community
Hushed Noise: What role do you think social media and digital platforms play in shaping the opportunities for emerging artists today?
Mike Thebridge: On the one hand they encourage us to create regularly, document, reflect on a write about our work. Social media helps us to share our creativity with the world and build habits with our creativity. This is all fantastic.
The other side of it is, the sense of competition and comparison that can emerge, the need to produce and push work out for the platforms that control your audience and reach. These platforms can make you question your work and your worth.
We have to learn to use them in a healthy way as a part of how we communicate our art. They are a tool we can use rather than the other way around.
Hushed Noise: If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
Mike Thebridge: Hush, Gustav Klimt and James Jean are massive inspirations. I would have so much to learn from them especially in terms of composting compositions.
Follow Mike Thebridge’s work on Instagram at @Mike_thebridge_art. For more, visit: thisisvisualflux.com.For inquiries, contact Mike at mike@thisisvisualflux.com.
Edited by Xeni R. Quine
Images by Mike Thebridge