A HUDDERSFIELD artist has been nominated for a prestigious national award.

Liadin Cooke, 52, of Edgerton is one of four shortlisted for the Northern Art Prize.

The artists were selected by a panel of industry professionals.

Liadin, who is a visiting lecturer at the University of Huddersfield and a freelance art teacher said: “I am delighted to have been nominated, it is a real recognition.

“I was nominated by Manchester-based independent curator and writer Alex Hodby.

“Twenty-four artists are put forward as 12 curators are each asked to select two artists.

“I was then asked to send in some images of recent work.”

Born in Ireland in 1958, the mum-of-two studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, and did her MA at Goldsmiths College, London.

Liadin described her work as “ideas based” and said it tends to incorporate a range of different mediums.

Last year she was nominated for the Art Foundation Fellowship.

Her recent exhibitions include a Huddersfield Art Gallery commission, entitled Holden, held in April 2010.

It was created in response to the Peter Stead Archive in the art gallery’s collection.

Huddersfield Embroiderers’ Guild were commissioned for the needlework along with Meltham-based bespoke furniture designer Tom Collins.

In 2005, Liadin was nominated for the Jerwood Platform and in 2004 was also selected for Becks Futures. She received an Arts Council England Grant in the same year.

With her work proving popular across the USA and Ireland, it is now exhibited in both private and public collections at the Dublin Corporation, Camden Council and the Henry Moore Institute.

The other three nominations include Leo Fitzmaurice, an installation artist from the Wirral, James Hugonin, a painter from Northumberland and Richard Rigg, a sculptor from Newcastle upon Tyne.

Chair Sarah Brown, Curator of Exhibitions at Leeds Art Gallery said: “The short-listing process was an important reminder to us that artists produce some of their most interesting work at very different points in their careers and we were impressed to see that the North is a strong site of artistic production.”

Liadin, will have to wait until January 19, 2012 to hear who has taken the top spot.

The final four will exhibit their work in November at Leeds Art Gallery.

The artist who wins the coveted prize will also receive a cheque for £16,500.

The remaining three artists shortlisted will each receive £1,500.

The Northern Art Prize is for contemporary artists living in the North and has been running for the past five years.