Calligraphy Melbourne with Maria Montes

Maria is a very gifted calligrapher and a great instructor with a quirky sense of humour. I really enjoyed her calligraphy courses.

More knowledge and self confidence, with the course “Pump up your Copperplate”.

Maria explains the rules in great detail. Just like on her YouTube channel. After each module, she adjusts her extensive feedback to my personal learning process.

This way I get to know the basic rules much better than before. That means that I can vary. My texts are getting livelier, but still consistent.

Maria, i am looking forward to the last modules!

I took the initial course with Maria Montes, excellent, she makes it easy, the explanations are extraordinary, she has passed on my passion for calligraphy. A brutal experience. I will love to do a new course with her.

Maria is an excellent teacher of copperplate calligraphy. I have done three online workshops with her so far and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. She is very patient and explains everything so well. I would recommend her classes to anyone interested in learning copperplate calligraphy.

I completed Maria's Copperplate Calligraphy course online. The classes move at a good pace, and the use of the camera allows for up-close views of the demonstrations. It was a privilege to be a part of a class where Maria shared so much of her own knowledge and skills.

Maria is a great teacher! She is skilled at what she does and teaches in a simple, encouraging and easy to access manner. I did the online Copperplate course delivered over 8 hours on 4 Sunday mornings (2 hours per lesson). Best use of a Sunday morning during lockdown! I highly recommend the course to anyone who is interested in Copperplate calligraphy.

I loved learning Neuland from Maria Montes, she taught so well, and while she did the usual drills-ductus-words sequence that many calligraphy teachers do, she also added variations and the history of the script! Maria is very talented, and a detailed and patient teacher. I thoroughly enjoyed my classes with her, and look forward to more opportunities to learn from her.

Great workshop! One could feel Maria’s love for the script “Neuland”. She is an excellent teacher. She kept us going at a good pace with lots of tips how to pay attention to the details.

This online-workshop was a wonderful experience. Thank you Maria for sharing your knowledge, creativity and enthusiasm for this script. The inspiration lingers on. Thank you also for the reference material and the generous amount of well prepared handouts.

Maria's classes are terrific. I knew nothing about calligraphy beforehand and now I have learnt a lot about it. Maria is very organised and gives clear, detailed guidance. It is all delivered in a pleasant and thoughtful way. Her classes make the calligraphy (which is actually demanding), accessible. The notes and videos are very helpful. Highly recommended. I miss the classes now the course has finished.

Maria is not only talented at her craft, she is also an excellent teacher. I learned so much from just this beginners course, and she shared a great deal of wisdom to overcome 'beginners errors'. It was also a class that felt very safe to ask questions in. For anyone who thinks doing an online version of the course might be odd, I think it is probably a better learning experience as the camera shows Maria's hand/nib at work to really understand the foundations of calligraphy.

I first did Maria's Copperplate Calligraphy class in person recently; this was a great way to get a sense of the letterforms, and get the pointed pen hold correct etc. I also met some really nice people, and got to hang out in Maria's bright and plant-filled studio! The time flew by, and after this 'taster' I was keen to learn more with Maria. So I did her live online Copperplate classes. These proved to be an excellent follow-up to her in-person class, but would be highly suitable if you hadn't done any classes before, or couldn't attend the in-person one.
Maria's expert and clear online teaching, advice on materials and technique, along with being able to see really closeup the letters that she was demonstrating meant that I made a lot of progress over the four weeks. Maria also gives really helpful feedback on your homework practice. I'm inspired to keep practicing and plan to try some of the other calligraphy styles that Maria offers in her classes.

Attending Maria's italic calligraphy class was naught but a pleasure. Clear, concise writing direction providing immediately satisfying results. The setting was relaxed and allowed for enjoyable discussion within our group of five.
Maria also touched on the origin of the calligraphy style, methods of keeping up the writing habit and even a bit of philosophy.

The 4 hour class felt like 1. Would strongly recommend.

I attended Maria's online class for Copperplate, 4 sessions of 2 hours each during Feb 2021. Due time difference I was unable to follow the sessions live so I watched the recording later. I loved the small sessions each week because it gives me time to practice between them and doing questions after practicing. I get my doubts after class when I do the practice and I was very pleased that she replied to all of them during class with examples, which helps me to have a visual idea about how to solve issues.
Having classes recorded helped me to watch, stop, practice and continue. And many times I repeat what I didn't get really well, so the recordings were perfect for me. I know for you as a teacher not having the immediate feedback could be challenging.
Maria's learning path is clear and have the right speed, not too slow, not too fast. She is encouraging students to send homework and she gives feedback which is great to see what a trained eye can see of your work.

After doing a one off class in person I joined Maria's online live copperplate classes. One 2 hour class a week for 4 weeks. Half the classes related to lower case letters and the other to capital letters. The cameras she has setup gives you a close up on her work which is so easy to follow. The 2 hours in length is perfect time wise and you learn so much. She is so generous with her time and often went over time tending to questions and providing guidance. Good quality tools were provided and the ability to watch back the recorded session as many times as you like. Thanks Maria!

I enjoyed my 3days 3 nights retreat with Maria and also the group of people I met, the classes are very informative, hands on and also professional, Maria gave each of us time for one on one coaching and also ideas on our final piece. The place is great, food is wonderful and also daily yoga to energise me throughout the day. It was a great experience and i will definitely want to join again:)

The classes were the perfect way to spend a Sunday morning! It was a relaxing atmosphere and Maria made the whole experience fun and enjoyable. I had no experience at all but that didn't matter because Maria went through each step slowly and was happy to give one on one help. Would highly recommend for anyone wanting to try something different!

Attended Maria Montes' first Calligraphy retreat and had high expectations given Maria's talent but was blown away. Incredible teaching and so much knowledge shared, great location, wonderful people, food to die for and just the perfect environment - a big thank you from me. Well done Maria.

I recently attended Maria's excellent Copperplate Calligraphy Retreat at Riverdale, just outside of Melbourne. Not only is Maria a master at her craft; she is also an excellent teacher and was able to cater for a wide range of student backgrounds and abilities. The retreat itself was wonderfully planned with amazing accomodation, delicious meals and endless supplies of tea, coffee and snacks to keep us going!
Alongside the expert Calligraphy tuition, Maria kept us entertained with many stories of her experiences in the field as well as historical facts which helped to explain various aspects of the letter forms and construction. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend her workshops to anyone with the slightest interest in calligraphy or lettering (or even if you don't, you will by the end of the class!). Thanks again Maria:)

Maria is an incredible calligraphy teacher. I honesly can't recommend her enough!

I really enjoyed her copperplate and black letter classes. I also joined her 3 day calligraphy retreat, where I learnt a huge amount of new calligraphy knowledge and made friends with like-minded people in a beautiful environment.

Maria devotes a huge amout of care, effort and love into her workshops. She is very generous in her teachings. You will feel inspired and learn a lot. Thank you for the inspiration and knowledge, Maria!

I have enjoyed several of these workshops - Maria has a great teaching style and is someone who cares to explain about the genesis of this great craft. Very enjoyable way to spend a saturday - you just don't get this knowledge on You tube!