Featured Center City Business: Clay College

Photo by Bill Horin/ArtC. Story by Rob LaymonArtC.

Over the years, ArtC has collaborated many times with Jackie Sandro-Greenwell. First, at the original Clay College & in recent years with Jackie & Randy Wilfong at RCSJ Arts & Innovation Center. The work done there is amazing.

The thing about clay is that it brings people together. Director Jackie Sandro-Greenwell has spent 25 years at Clay College watching ceramics inspire not only creativity but community.

“Clay people are very down-to-earth,” she says. “I think there is a kind of unification in working with clay that makes us all part of the same family. It’s a very unintimidating medium—I haven’t come across a person yet who doesn’t smile when given clay to work with.”

Sandro-Greenwell has believed this and other transformative things about clay for as long as she has served as the director of the facility, part of Rowan College South Jersey.

For Sandro-Greenwell the artist, clay has always illuminated a clear path. With an MFA from Tyler School of Art and teaching experience, Sandro-Greenwell joined the push for Clay College at its very inception, when the idea for the Millville Arts District was taking shape.

Visitors to her facility will find all the equipment necessary to do good work in ceramics: pottery wheels, kilns, and ample space for students to work. The college is proud to provide hands-on training in techniques like wheel-throwing and hand-building, to a student population of all ages, available in both credit and non-credit courses.

What will be harder to see is the camaraderie formed by the common project of throwing clay and making beautiful things.

“We’re kind of like a gym,” Sandro-Greenwell says, “in that people can just come in to use the studio. I think there is something related to the process that makes it different from other art forms. There are steps involved, with chemistry, glazing and firing, and interaction with many processes. You never get bored with ceramics.”

Clay College

First floor, Arts and Innovation Center

321 N. High Street

Phone: 856-776-2380

Website: artsinnovation/clay-college

Email: aic@cc.rcsj.edu

Featured Center City Business: China Wok

Photo by Bill Horin/ArtC. Story by Sal Emma/ArtC.

Millville is fortunate to have several very good Chinese restaurants & China Wok is exceptional. With her husband, John, Karen Wang has been cooking Chinese in Millville for over three decades. Their restaurant, China Wok, has been at its High Street location since 2009.

China Wok’s runaway favorite dish is General Tso’s chicken. But Karen and John offer a large and varied menu of Chinese treats including daily specials. The restaurant does mostly takeout, but it has a few tables, too.

“John was already cooking when we met. He taught me the restaurant business and we decided to open our own place,” Karen says. John’s father settled in Millville from Mainland China and it became their home, too.

China Wok has been family-owned since the beginning. “John and I are here, every day, doing the cooking and greeting customers. They like our food, of course, but they also appreciate our stability and reliability,” Karen says.

Karen and John make fresh and flavorful food with a little extra – a naturally friendly approach and genuine warmth for the people they serve.

Website: ChinaWokMillville

Social Media: Facebook

Featured Center City Business: BJ Roasters

Julia Pacitto & BJ Roasters are a Millville staple.

Photo by Bill Horin/ArtC. Story by Sal Emma/ArtC.

When you do things right, there’s no reason to change. That’s the philosophy that has made BJ Roasters a Millville family favorite for over three decades. “We’re the oldest one on the street,” says Pacitto.

With her brother, Joe Trovarelli, Julia and her team create a full menu of hand-made specialties like rotisserie and fried chicken, hot and cold sandwiches, salads and even home-style soup during colder months. They also do catering.

The crowd favorite: BJ Wings. “Our wings are unique. They’re dry rubbed with our own spice blend we came up with,” Julia says. “You can kick up the rub, first, second and third degree,” she says, depending on how spicy you like them. They are served with a variety of sauces on the side.

BJ Roasters started on Oak Street and has been at its 231 High Street location since 2005. A native of Vineland, Julia says she saw the need for good, fast food in Millville when they set up shop all those years ago and the need remains. “It’s a hometown restaurant and we work hard to keep hometown prices. We know what it’s like, feeding a family,” she says.

BJ Roasters is closed Sundays, but they make an exception for Super Bowl. “That’s our biggest day!” Julia says.

BJ Roasters Website: https://www.bjroasters.com/

Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/bjroasters/

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