Arts journalist for the New York Times, Grace Glueck noted that Steele was a "progressive-minded artist and artisan whose work was considered avant-garde.
The son of a British textile Baron, Whitehead was attempting “to create a subsistence community of craftsmen,” wrote New York Times journalist Benjamin Genocchio in 2003.
The two women made nature studies of local plant life for what became the iconic patterned-painted panels that were set into the larger Mission style furniture pieces.
The types of objects made in the furniture shop at Byrdcliffe included tables, chairs, lamp stands, hanging shelves, bookcases, sideboards and chiffoniers.
“Simple lines, delicate moldings, and planar surfaces characterized Byrdcliffe pieces and belie their solid construction,” wrote curator Peter Morrin in preparation for a 1977 exhibition on the Woodstock colonies.
Professor of Art History at Bard College, Tom Wolf, noted that the "artists of Byrdcliffe practiced the most popular and accepted styles of the early twentieth century, and it is striking to see a sudden change around the time of the 1913 Armory Show.