Board Members - THE TEAM

Fiona Pierce

 

​I’ve always loved anything creative, but working as a community advisor for MS feels like it’s from a completely different universe than my “real life.”

For years, I was busy wrangling three kids, knee-deep in sewing, knitting, and whatever else needed doing.

Now that they’ve flown the nest, I’ve discovered it’s finally me time—and apparently, my true calling is wearable
costumes. Who knew?

Robyn deserves the blame for this obsession—she encouraged me to give it a go, and I’m
now utterly hooked. My spare time is consumed with scheming up designs, figuring out what materials to use,

and occasionally wondering if a piece of roadkill might have potential (the texture’s got to be good for something, right?).
With my eclectic personality and questionable sense of humour, I like to think I add a little spice to the group. Plus, someone has to keep some semblance of order in the Little Yellow Chair Trust—and that someone might as well be me!

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Robyn Valentine

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Over the past 17 years I have been designing and creating costumes for local ballet recitals and individuals competing in competitive dance, as well as costuming for local musicals.

I am passionate about re-cycling, up-styling, and wearable arts in general.

My wearable arts interest began with the NZ Hat and Hair Competition in Timaru, which I competed in from 2010 - 2013.

I have had three attempts at WOW - but never quite got there.  In 2024 I was fortunate enough to be accepted as a finalist in the Australian Wearable Arts Festival.  The experience of a life time!   Because the entry level of WOW is so high, and I know there are many very creative and clever people out there - locally, and nationally - I really wanted to bring an opportunity for designers like my self, to showcase their works.  Thankfully, with a bit of a push from Catherine, and support from Fiona - we are DOING THIS!

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Catherine Neill

I am an accountant by training, an administrator (filer and liner-up of things) by nature. 
I've been involved with organising everything from school fairs, to triathalons, with a couple of awards ceremonies and regional sports events in there too.
Robyn's clear vision of who Little Yellow Chair is for, and Fiona's concept of how it should look and feel gives me a solid foundation to do what I do, which is write grant applications, fill in forms and make sure the i's are dotted. 
It's lovely to be able to be a part of something I really believe will be a unique and brilliant event for our region.
We've gone around this idea a few times and put it down thinking it was mad, or we couldn't do it - it needed someone better than us to run this amazing event - and then it dawned on us - why not us!?  Robyn's passion, skills, creativity and sheer joy in it all; Fiona's vision, sense of style and astonishing people skills; my ability to file things - how could there be a better team!!!?

As for the LITTLE YELLOW CHAIR itself, well there's a story there......
Robyn, Fiona and I all work in the same building, but for different organisations. 
We're friends.  Amongst many other things, Robyn does decoupage, and I like to upcycle things. 
One day, on my way to Fairlie, I stopped at a shop in Albury to get a coffee. 
In the shop was a display of little yellow chairs for sale, as a fundraiser for the Albury Preschool, which caught my eye because both my family and Fiona's are from Albury.
I bought one as a project to upcycle; then I got to thinking about it and bought another two for Robyn and Fiona to do up as a friendly competition between us, a sort of creative blank canvas.
The literal blank canvas project didn't come to anything, I still have mine in my office, with it's patchy yellow paint showing the fingerprints of the kindy kids who painted it.
However....when we started talking about setting up a group for running creative events, and we needed a name, there it was - the little yellow chair - the creative blank canvas ready for a much bigger stage!