Anna Klausmeyer: The Rainbow at the End of the Storm

Sometimes, the path to happiness and true acceptance is that of the most resistance, and for artist and owner of The Love Free Shop Anna Klausmeyer, she understands on a cellular level what it means to lose it all and start again.

In 2014, Klausmeyer started a mobile boutique, converting a former FedEx truck into a moving store where she could sell her original artwork and prints, as well as jewelry and clothing items. Over the course of six years, she would drive around Denver and set up shop, traveling to her customers equally as they would travel to her. However, from the onset of The Love Free Shop, Klausmeyer was met with resistance.

“We actually had some issues along the way with permitting with the city, so it was always a constant struggle,” she explains. “I created something when I was 24 years old and pretty naive;  I had no idea how challenging it was going to be. If you take your passion and you make it your business, that’s a whole thing.” 

Klausmeyer describes herself as an introvert, and for her, going out and driving the truck downtown, staying out all night at First Friday art walks and curbside pop-up shops, pushed her far outside her comfort zone. While things have been rocky since the onset—both personally challenging her instinctive, wallflower personality, and professionally, with inconsistent cash flow—Klausmeyer says she learned a lot about herself. 

“With the mobile boutique, I almost feel like it was a little bit ahead of its time. I tried so hard to get the cities of Denver and Aurora to create a permit and to make it something we could be successful at,” she says. “I talked to council members, small business development centers, and they just weren’t ready for that.”

Once the pandemic hit in 2020, and the City of Denver was shut down, Klausmeyer says that was the final nail in the coffin for her business. While she was filled with sadness, she resigned to the fact that she needed to sell the mobile art truck, which in turn became a major turning point for her.

“I came back to a place of peace with my art; I wasn’t making things to sell them—I started making things because it’s what I love to make,” she explains. “So, I think that was a really important lesson, and I’m enjoying my art much more now, after all that.”

Though 2020 was a rough year, Klausmeyer made a promise to herself that she would paint a rainbow on every single piece that she made, to remain colorful and keep her outlook bright. Getting lost again in the thing she loves most, she worked through a lot of the pain and disappointment of a trying, six-year stint as a retail entrepreneur. 

“I love working with the bright colors, so I tried to stay true to that even through a rough year; just take what’s inside of you and put it on the canvas,” she says. “I feel like my art kind of reflects my inner-child, so I really do literally go back to that very root. Bright colors, rainbows, positive messages, all that kind of stuff, so it really feels like it’s full circle at this point.” 

“I came back to a place of peace with my art.”

Some of the positive messages that The Love Free Shop embodies are things like “trust the process,” “radical self-love and acceptance,” and “become the person you always were anyways;” notes and saying that the LGBTQ community can get behind and hold onto as affirmations, reminders, and mantras. Through her abstract, bold, colorful, and unique style of human-likeness, she says that a lot of queer people are able to see elements of themselves embodied through her pieces.

As a queer woman, Klausmeyer understands the delicate balance between being true to oneself and elevating to the next level. As a form of therapy, art has been a way for her to support her mental health and embrace where she’s come from, what she’s been through, and where she’s going. Starting with her grandmother, putting a paintbrush in her hand at 5 years old while on a camping trip, Klausmeyer transitioned from watercolor painting to using acrylic paint on canvases in high school, and is now a graphic designer by trade and a painter by passion. 

Standing strong in her own power and self-love, Klausmeyer has arrived at a place of joy and serenity in the art she is making. Sharing messages of hope, following her evolving dreams, and connecting to the nostalgia of her inner-child, she is building pieces that capture moments in time of growth, resilience, and community.  

“It can be challenging to believe in yourself, and it’s been a long journey for me already, so I’m coming back to creating pieces that I love, and I hope other people will love them, too,” Klausmeyer says.

To support her work, visit etsy.com/shop/thelovefreeshop.