American Notes CHICAGO

In a city attuned to architectural splendors and niceties, the squat, graceless Chicago Sun-Times Building, resembling an aluminum-and-marble houseboat run aground, has long struck its beholders as an eyesore. Suddenly it has become the visual star of the Windy Cityscape. Deciding that the structure would be a good backdrop for his latest creation, titled Bess' Sunrise, Textile Artist Maya Romanoff adorned the building with 28 brightly colored canvas strips, each 6 ft. wide and 120 ft. long. Suspended from the seventh-floor terrace and hanging down to the edge of the Chicago River, the work offers a billowing spectacle of warm yellow-oranges and radiant blue- greens.

Many Chicagoans have urged that the work be left up permanently instead of the planned two weeks. It has cheered passersby and even improved the morale of people inside the unloved building. Said Sun-Times Spokesman Mike Soll: "Dressing it up is a welcome relief."