Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley with Michael Patrick Thieme (left) and husband, stylist Larry Thielen Jr., delivering her third piece of MPT artwork to City Hall. Photo courtesy of Michael Patrick Thieme

Proximity: Lines in Life, Love and Art

BY BRIAN G. THORNTON

“Onward Ever, Backward Never” is the mantra of Michael Patrick Thieme [pronounced Tee-Me], a quote from his grandmother Marie Thieme’s 2004 book of the same title. There are lines that divide and lines that define. Some are in graphite, others in paint and still others in the invisible gestures of love and shared laughter. For Michael Patrick Thieme and Larry Thielen Jr. [pronounced Tee Len], life has always been a study in linework—fluid, fearless and occasionally serendipitous. Born miles apart in suburban Illinois, these two creative forces were unknowingly sketching parallel paths that wouldn’t converge until years later under the neon glow of Las Vegas.

Their story is not one of overnight romance or Instagram-ready perfection. It is instead an honest, elegant composition layered with the marks of two men navigating the contours of individual growth, artistic purpose and eventual unity. Together, they’ve blended households, pets, passions and professions with the precision of practiced draftsmen.

Over time, what began as two lives on separate canvases has become a singular work of art—one shaded with humor, harmony and hard-earned grace.

In this feature, we trace the merging of their lives, their love and their creative visions. This is not just a portrait of a couple; it’s a study of coexistence—how art imitates life, how love redraws the boundaries of what’s possible and how two people found the perfect line between self and togetherness.

Life

Raised in Naperville, Illinois, Thieme’s journey has traced a deliberate set of lifelines—geographic, professional and deeply personal. He came of age there, studied there and followed a line due southwest to Phoenix, Arizona, where his architectural career took form from 1998 to 2005. That arc eventually curved toward Las Vegas, where he’s lived ever since—sketching out a life in the Mojave light.

But his earliest lines weren’t blueprints. They were brushstrokes. Painting was never a hobby; it was the constant hum beneath everything else. In college, a drawing class—nude figures rendered in pencil—broke the rhythm. The exercise felt obligatory, the lines boring. One day, he exchanged pencil for paint and something clicked—color reanimated form. Passion returned. That first canvas—born of defiance and guided by intuition—still lives on his brother’s wall. A relic of the moment Thieme rewrote the line.

“I studied at the School of Architecture in Versailles, France, my junior year as part of a student exchange program with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Versailles is within the former horse stables of the Château de Versailles! It was an epic year of my life … I maximized the opportunity and traveled and explored much of Europe. I soaked in as much architecture, culture, food and art as I could.”

As we delineate this story, it’s noted: “We spend as much time together as possible. We enjoy gardening, growing cacti, houseplants, etc. We love to cook together and make homemade pasta, our world-famous cheesecake … Larry likes to bake. We care for our animals—our dog Dakota, our cat Houdini and our two torties, Skittles and Yoda. We also have fish,” Thieme says.

Love

Some lines are drawn by fate. Others by flirtation, curiosity or sheer coincidence. For Thieme and Thielen, love lines ran parallel for decades—suburbs apart outside Chicago, then states apart—until they finally intersected in Las Vegas. What began as coffee became a constellation.

Thieme reflects: “We grew up outside Chicago just a few miles apart, yet our paths never crossed … Larry moved to Atlanta and I moved to Phoenix. We both ended up in Vegas and we are glad that finally our paths—our lines—did cross! Larry always says that meeting on June 8, three days after his birthday, was the best belated birthday gift. We married on June 8, nine years later.”

Thielen recalls the spark: “Our initial meeting over coffee at Starbucks was the seed that planted our enduring relationship. I remember thinking this was going to be something special. Both having Midwestern/Chicago roots definitely helped forge our immediate connection … we literally talked nonstop for hours. We have been together ever since.”

Creativity is their shared current and mutual admiration is their secret superpower.

Thieme notes: “As we are both creative spirits, we have that inherent design connection which allows us to be each other’s support team as we continue to grow our individual empires. We are each other’s biggest fan. We drive each other to be the best, to propel further, to grow and learn. We challenge each other, promote each other, we critique each other.”

Thielen, ever the stylist and sculptor of form, puts it this way: “As a person who creates within the beauty industry for a living, I see the multifaceted aspects of my husband’s work and I’m truly impressed by his continued growth as his painting career blossoms. Likewise, he is a constant supporter of my work and has seen me become a true force within the hair industry. We balance each other well and support each other’s continued learning and growth … it has truly been—and will continue to be—the backbone of our relationship.”

Together, they prove that love lines—once finally crossed—can draw an entire life in full color.

Art

If life and love are drawn in lines, then art is where Thieme gets to bend them. His latest series, “SIX+,” is an elegant evolution—a geometric meditation on discipline and desire. Still committed to his signature technique of painting lines “individually, one at a time,” Thieme wondered what would happen if those lines tilted, leaned and dared to defy the X/Y axis he once held sacred. The result? A bold departure into angled territory—still meticulous, still methodical but with a newfound organic momentum.

The first eight works (soon to be 12) in “SIX+” were created for Thielen’s salon—a space of beauty, reinvention and art in its own right. In a nod to Thielen’s fondness for even numbers (a playful counterpoint to Thieme’s preference for odds), each canvas in the series receives six additional lines, building toward a crescendo of 72 in the final piece. The visual journey, from mostly white to mostly black, becomes an abstract reflection of contrast, balance and transformation.

As Thieme continues to evolve the series—experimenting with color, scale and line width—he invites us into his inner studio, where each stroke is both question and answer, repetition and rebellion.

And let’s not overlook Thielen’s artistic line. His salon suite within LOOK Style Society is no ordinary styling station—it’s a curated canvas, a living gallery where hair becomes sculpture and every client leaves touched by his precision, grace and glamour. Together, they live in tandem—two artists, many mediums, one ever-evolving masterpiece.

“I first began painting with lines in 2009, with my concept ‘STITCH,'” Thieme says. “Initially, it was simply a response to a question … What if I paint lines individually, one at a time while rotating my canvas after each line was painted? This led me to several painting concepts, which I have always been fascinated by. Controlling and manipulating the simple line into complex and intricate paintings resonates with me. When I started my endeavor ‘[10x10x10x10],’ I decided this was the technique I wanted to continue to explore.”

Asked whether he thought their lives today and their path were poetic, Thielen says: “Yes, it is poetic. I take hair as my canvas and create personalized works of art for clients sitting in my chair. Balayage is a technique of painting ribbons or lines of color—light or dark—throughout the crown. I mix and create custom colors to achieve a one-of-a-kind original look for women.”

Thieme adds: “My series ‘[10x10x10x10]’ was the direct result of wanting to create something grand or epic after taking a personal hiatus from painting. It allowed me to explore numerous concepts within my technique—or restriction, as I sometimes call it—of painting lines individually, one at a time. It was a two-year endeavor that required dedication, focus and meticulous work. I’m not sure I learned anything in particular during this journey, besides the fact that I have endless ideas and future questions regarding the line. This project also cemented the idea of how I incorporate my designer/architect side into my art style and process. Larry, as always, was a huge supporter and was excited to see each piece finished … in terms of our house space, he graciously allowed me to take over several areas to accomplish this goal.”

In reflecting on his creative arc, Thieme notes a striking contrast between his earlier series “[10x10x10x10]” and the freer spirit of “SIX+.” The former demanded precision—grids, rulers and measured line widths—a choreography of control. “SIX+,” by contrast, is instinctive and untethered: no rulers, no measurements, just a disciplined eye and the only rule that each line must span from one edge of the canvas to its opposite edge.

This liberation from rigidity feels both necessary and revelatory—a kind of controlled chaos that mirrors life itself. What began as an exploration of line has become a meditation on balance: between order and intuition, structure and surrender. And somehow, despite its spontaneity, the result is no less meticulous—just more … alive.

The Next Line

For Thieme and Thielen, the next five years aren’t plotted in ink—they’re sketched in possibility. In both hair and art, design is ever-evolving, always asking new questions and offering new canvases. Their respective crafts, though rooted in different media, share a philosophy: reinvention is not only inevitable but essential.

Thielen, ever the keen observer of beauty and style, sees the hair industry as a dynamic playground—where past trends resurface with a twist and mastery is achieved through perpetual learning. He stays sharp by watching, absorbing and innovating.

Thieme, meanwhile, envisions a lifetime of lines—each stroke a whisper of inquiry, a gesture toward the unknown. His technique of painting lines one at a time is more than a method; it’s a mantra. His art has already been translated into commercial rugs for Jamie Stern/NJ, and he anticipates further product design opportunities to extend his art style.

“Together we will continue doing what we do … encouraging each other to be the best we can be. Our life together has been a stream of unique adventures and we look forward to seeing how our lives will progress forward through all of life’s twists and turns,” Thieme says.

When asked about extending the lines: “Our life and time together—I would describe it as a fluid map of experiences, locations and memories. The design component is that it is not designed … but it is organically woven together over time. Our life when we first met in 2010 was completely different than when we got married in 2019 and completely different now in 2025 … and will surely be completely different 20 years from now. This is what is so exciting—how our life changes and morphs.”

And so, the lines continue—not rigid but responsive, not fixed but full of possibility. Whether drawn in ink or sheared in silhouette, what Thielen and Thieme shape together is more than art or craft. It is a lifelong composition, evolving at the pace of their love and the pulse of their curiosity. In this ongoing map of moments—fluid, unplanned and deeply intentional—they prove that proximity isn’t just about closeness. It’s about connection. It’s about choosing, every day, to make something beautiful. Together, it’s just moving on … to the next line.

Contact the artists: @michaelpatrickthieme, @hairbylarrythielenjr, www.MPTstudio.com