Linda Gita Rahl Nadas

Linda was born March 14, 1937, the daughter of Phillip and Ruth Rahl. She graduated from Oakwood Friends in Poughkeepsie and attended Alfred University, earning a BFA and MFA in Ceramics Design in 1958 and 1959.

From an early age, Linda made art with whatever she could get her hands on. As a young girl living in the Carlyle Hotel, she would get in trouble for kneading ground beef on the mahogany table. When she was seven, three years after losing her mother, she and her father settled on Bull Road. Here, she traded beef for dirt, spending long hours outdoors forming mud into small creations.

This instinct for sculpture became a lifelong devotion to the art of ceramics. At Alfred University she studied under John Wood, Val Cushing, and Theodore Randall. She was inspired by Japanese pottery and developed an eye for irregular beauty and earth-toned glazes. Peter Voulkos was also a great influence, as well as Ken Price, with whom she worked for a year.

A master of her craft, Linda was generous with her time and knowledge. Over the course of her career she held numerous teaching positions, including as a high school art teacher in Montgomery and a ceramics instructor at Orange County Community College. She believed in the transcendent power of art, and she inculcated a love for creative expression not just in her students but also in her friends, children, and grandchildren.

Above all, though, Linda was a disciplined and productive artist. The center of her life and spirit was located in what all those who knew her simply called “the barn.” The barn was a charming two-story structure located on her property, a short walk from her house. Over the course of her life Linda transformed this simple space into a creative mecca. Today it is filled with literally thousands of beautiful vases, paintings, sculptures, bowls, and mugs.

For those who loved her, Linda will always be in her barn on a sunny morning, the sweet smell of clay in the air, folk music playing on the radio, light streaming in through dusty window panes. She sits at her wheel at the center of it all, hands summoning a perfect form from the clay.

Linda was preceded in death by her daughter, Gita Nadas, her grandson, Jakob Hegmann and her step-daughter Even Nadas. She leaves behind husband Arthur Nadas, daughter Tanya Nadas, step-son Stephen Nadas, grandchildren Lily, Violet, Josh, Rachel and Joe and her four great grandchildren. A memorial visitation will be held on Oct.17th, 2026 from 3-4:30pm at David T. Ferguson funeral home 20 North St. Washingtonville, N.Y.

There will be a reception at Linda & Arthur's house at 506 Bull Road Rock Tavern , N.Y. following the memorial.